AT THE end of June dozens of Serbian policemen met for a boozy evening at the Quiet Night restaurant in north Mitrovica. For 14 happy years they and 1,800 colleagues were paid just to sit in cafés. But the deal struck between Serbia and Kosovo under the aegis of the European Union in Brussels in April means the era of money for nothing is ending.

Kosovo, whose population is mostly ethnic Albanian, declared independence in 2008. Serbia has not recognised this nor have Serbs in northern Kosovo, where they are in the majority. Marko Jaksic, a young lawyer, says the border is not “up there” but “on the bridge”, where an earth rampart cuts Mitrovica in two over the Ibar river. Since NATO drove out Serbia’s administration in 1999, some 50,000 local Serbs have lived in a twilight world under Serbian institutions.

Serbs in the rest of Kosovo have come to terms with the authorities, but those in the north still talk of resistance. They see themselves as a Balkan equivalent of the village in Gaul where Asterix resisted the Romans. Except that the Serbs have no magic potion. The Serbian government, aware that it must implement its deal to secure the start of EU accession talks next January, is cutting cash. After local elections in November the four Serb-dominated northern municipalities will officially become part of Kosovo’s system again.

In February 2012 local Serbs voted in a referendum to have nothing to do with Kosovo. They were relieved when a nationalist party won Serbia’s elections three months later, never imagining that it could cut a deal with their enemies. The northern Serbs will not accept this, concedes Aleksandar Vucic, Serbia’s deputy prime minister, “but we did it for the best of our country.”

Ever since 1999 few northern Serbs have paid taxes or utility bills. Many were paid for doing official jobs that existed only on paper. Some were paid by both Serbia and Kosovo for the same job. For now the Serbian salaries of those in health or education are safe. But municipal employees will see their wages cut because Kosovo pays its civil servants much less than Serbia does.

Local politicians have set up an assembly to resist the deal. The Serbian government has sent in an anti-corruption task force to examine how these same politicians have spent Serbian government money since 1999. If Belgrade wants its deal, remarks Bane Krstic, a local journalist, “it will happen”. Some predict that many northern Serbs will leave. The Serbian government is now encouraging local Serbs to form a joint list to take part in elections. A new party could have real power in the next national elections. Meanwhile local Serbs are frightened of the future and of Albanians. They will try to continue much as though they were still in Serbia—except that they won’t be.