EU takes point on Kosovo?

John Rosenthal asks An Honest Broker for Kosovo?

On Tuesday, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan named former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari as his envoy to conduct final status talks on Kosovo. The move requires confirmation by the UN Security Council, which is expected. Ahtisaari will be highly familiar to long-time Balkan watchers, as he has frequently been the EU point man in Balkan matters over the last decade and a half.

It was, notably, Martti Ahtisaari who on 2 June 1999 and "representing the European Union" obtained the agreement of the then Yugoslav government to withdraw Yugoslav troops and police from Kosovo, thus ending the Kosovo War...

... The fact of the matter is that the - essentially European - interests whom Ahtisaari serves are preparing another Diktat for Belgrade and Ahtisaari is eminently qualified to present it when the time comes.