For the first time since Kosovo declared independence in February 2008, Kosovo and Serbia began a direct dialogue in March 2011, under the facilitation and mediation of the European Union. The EU-facilitated dialogue between Kosovo and Serbia has sought technical solutions and agreements that promote neighbourly relations between Kosovo and Serbia and help normalize the situation in the northern Kosovo. Acting as a neutral mediator and leveraging the benefits of European integration (which is partly conditional upon maintaining a pro-European Belgrade), the EU hoped to help Kosovo and Serbia find lasting policy solutions for the multi-ethnic northern Kosovo and the relations between Kosovo and Serbia. However many challenges, both technical and political, have prevented the successful implementation of agreements that have been reached so far. Parallel structures and institutions in the north, ethnic tensions, and domestic pressures on politicians in both Belgrade and Prishtina have ignited conflict over the northern border and solution for the north that has inhibited the success of the dialogue thus far and has prevented the normalization of the situation in the northern Kosovo.