Kosova

Nine years after NATO troops entered Kosovo and the United Nations oversaw its administration, the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government Assembly of Kosovo, adopted on 17th February 2008, declared Kosovo to be independent from Serbia. 

The 2008 declaration was a result of failed negotiations concerning the adoption of the Ahtisarri plan, which broke down in the autumn of 2007. The plan, prepared by the UN Special Envoy, former President of Finland, Martti Ahtisaari, stipulated a form of supervised independence for Kosovo, without expressly using the word 'independence' among its proposals. Under the plan, the Kosovo entity would gain self-governance under the supervision of the European Union and become obligated to protect explicitly its minorities' rights through a constitution and a representative government. This entity would be accorded its own national symbols such as a flag and a coat of arms, and be obligated to conduct border demarcation on the disputed Kosovo-Republic of Macedonia border. The Albanian negotiators supported the Ahtisaari plan essentially in its entirety, and the plan received the backing of the European Union and the United States. However, Serbia and Russia outright rejected it, leading to no progress at the United Nations level. 

With no progress in negotiations in sight, the Kosovars chose to unilaterally declare the Republic of Kosova, committing to following all provisions of the Ahtisaari plan. As of mid-April 2008, this has mostly been the case, with the new Republic adopting a constitution drafted by local and international scholars to safeguard minority rights and establish a representative government with guaranteed ethnic representation. This law is set to come into effect on 15th June 2008. 

The 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence sparked mixed reactions internationally and divided opinion domestically, particularly between Kosovo Serbs and Kosovo Albanians and non-Serb minorities collectively, adversely affecting effective control within Kosovo. 

One of the outcomes of the declaration was the collapse of the Serbian government, stemming from internal disagreements on how to address the European Union and Kosovo.