THE Serbian people have reclaimed their country. Now Europe and the rest of the West must help them rebuild it.

The rise of Vojislav Kostunica, a Serbian nationalist, would have be seen as worrying in the West were it not for the fact that he was replacing Slobodan Milosevic. Indeed, should he repeat his demands that Kosovo is returned to Serbia, the West will find it very hard to refuse - especially as he has such a large democratic legitimacy behind him.

But Europe and the US has to take the sting out of that argument now.

Serbia is a battered and bombed nation and its people will be reticent about forging closer links with the West - understandably so as just a year ago we were bombing them and we have spent the last 12 months denying them the basics of life.

The need for sanctions has gone. Milosevic has fallen. Sanctions must go, too. The West has to prove to the people of Serbia that it is worth them making close links. This will mean undertaking projects like re-opening the River Danube to navigation and rebuilding some of the destroyed bridges and roads.

This may prove expensive - although it won't be so bad if the European "superpower", as Tony Blair called it yesterday, shares the load among its members - but it has to be worth it if it finally ends a decade of turmoil in the Balkans.

Already Serbia's neighbours of Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria are jittery about whether Kostunica can re-impose law and order on his country. And all the time there's the spectre of Milosevic in the background, still apparently keen to take a leading role in Serbia's politics.

Europe and the West must do all they can to ensure the Serbian people do not have a reason to take any backward steps.