Donor countries have begun to foot the bill. After all, the decline of Kosovo did not start this year. For a decade the province was neglected by Serbia's central government. Whatever infrastructure survived the war is close to falling apart anyway. Kosovo is Europe's poorest region.
Poverty breeds conflict, say Western politicians.
They hope that the prospect of economic wealth can persuade the people of the Balkans to live in peace with each other. Germany's Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer, for example, has long argued for a Marshall plan for the Balkans. This Stability Pact is designed to tie the region closer to the prosperity and political calm of the European Union. However, there is one big difficulty with that approach. The region's largest economy is Serbia, and before the war most of the other countries' economies were closely integrated with Serbia through trade links.