Kosovo has been sovereign for a year now, but from what I can gather, bids to open Ronald's franchise have been going on since last April. At least 800 Kosovar businessmen are vying for the privilege. But there's still no sign of any authentic big yellow "M's" being raised in Prishtina.
Today I heard another interesting explanation. Apparently Belgrade in Serbia is full of McDonalds, and McDonalds' corporate man in charge of the Balkans is Serbian, and Serbia and Kosovo are not on good terms. He has reportedly said that if a McDonalds is opened in Kosovo, he'll shut down all the franchises in Serbia. After all, if Kosovo has McDonalds, Serbia and Kosovo can't be enemies anymore! So, as long as the population of Serbia is five times that of Kosovo, the corporate empire will profit more from McDonalds in Belgrade than it will from McDonalds in Prishtina.