The Pristina-based daily Koha Ditore said Sunday that the international community might grant a special status to the northern Kosovo municipalities of Zubin Potok, Leposavic and Zvecan.

Representatives “of state institutions in Kosovo” expect such an outcome, not excluding the possibility that a proposal for

“substantial autonomy for the north” might soon go public at the initiative of the international community, the daily said.

International friends believe that to integrate the north is mission impossible, given the fact that they have been trying that for 12 years. Therefore, in order to avoid armed conflict, they see giving that region a special status as the only long-term solution, a source told Koha Ditore.

The source said that the international actors believed Kosovo could preserve its current borders in such a way only.

The idea of the international community is that the northern municipalities get recognized as separate units that will have powers in government and finance, a senior Kosovo official said.

He, however, said Kosovo authorities had not given any signal that they might find the proposal acceptable.

The package offered by former UN special envoy for Kosovo Martti Ahtisaari remains the highest bid the Serbs living in Kosovo can hope for, the source said.