33 Countries of Origin’ Profiles

18 exchange for de facto recognition of Kosovo‘s authority in the region. Serbian negotiators stopped short of recognizing Kosovo‘s independence, however. Political gridlock following a general election in June 2014 hampered the EU reform agenda, and six months passed before a new government could be formed. A compromise between the LDK and PDK was reached in December, whereby LDK leader Isa Mustafa was made prime minister. Thaçi was named deputy prime minister a nd foreign minister, with both parties agreeing that he would become president i n 2016, upon the conclusion of Atifete Jahjaga‘s term in that office. I n August 2 015 Kosovo and Serbia made great strides in normalizing their relations. The two countries concluded negotiations that addressed energy and telecommunications issues, with Kosovo gaining its own international telephone p refix, and Serb communities within Kosovo being granted a measure of autonomy. Backlash against the EU-brokered deal was intense, and in October opposition lawmakers set off tear-gas c anisters on the floor of parliament i n protest. Later that month Kosovo concluded a long-desired Stabilization and Association Agreement with the EU. Although EU officials stated that additional political and economic reforms would be necessary before full accession could be considered, some $700 million in developmental aid was made available to Kosovo to achieve those goals. KOSOVAR REFUGEES Christian Miller By the end of April 1999, about 600,000 residents of Kosovo had become refugees; another 400,000 were displaced inside Kosovo, meaning that half of the two million residents of Kosovo were refugees or internally displaced people. About 375,000 Kosovars moved south to neighboring Albania (population 3.2 million and per capita GDP $700) and 150,000 had moved to Macedonia (2.1 million and $1700); others moved to Montenegro and Bosnia. As they left Kosovo, Serbs reportedly stripped many Kosovars of passports, property deeds and other records. A repeated justification for NATO's bombing of the Serbian military was to prevent ethnic cleansing, marking one of the first times that a humanitarian goal was invoked to go to war. Serb treatment of Kosovars has been called the "glue" of NATO solidarity. The NATO bombing campaign was launched to stop Serb aggression against Kosovars. Instead, after the bombing began, the Serbs stepped up their effort to drive Kosovars out of Kosovo. A successful conclusion of the NATO campaign would be their return of Kosovars to a peaceful Kosovo. Governments of the European Union, led by Germany, favored aiding the refugees as close to Kosovo as possible rather than accepting them for resettlement. Emma Bonino of Italy, acting humanitarian affairs commissioner of the European Union, said that: "The further away people are from home, the more difficult it is for them to go back." The EU provided assistance to establish refugee camps in Albania and Macedonia rather than moving hundreds of thousands of refugees out of the area. NATO troops took the lead in establishing shelters and providing food, and then turned the operation of the refugee camps over to UNHCR and other relief agencies.