Montenegro heads to independence after EU boost
Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 4:48 pm"By Beti Bilandzic
PODGORICA, Serbia and Montenegro (Reuters) - Montenegro's split from Serbia and progress to independence picked up speed on Tuesday when the European Union proposed talks holding out the prospect of faster entry into the bloc than Belgrade.
Serbian President Boris Tadic accepted Montenegro's decision but Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, his political opponent, issued a statement saying his government "will completely accept the result" only when final figures are made public.
The small Adriatic republic voted in a referendum on Sunday by a wafer-thin margin to end its union with much larger Serbia and break up what had been the last remnant of federal Yugoslavia.
The European Commission said it would recommend separate talks with Montenegro, raising the prospect of Serbia being left behind in the EU race, shackled by its failure to arrest key war crimes suspects.
Official preliminary results of Montenegro's vote, announced on Tuesday, showed 55.5 percent of voters in the small, mountainous republic of 650,000 people had chosen to split from Serbia and reinstate independence it gave up 90 years ago. The EU had set a majority over 55 percent as binding.
Both Serbian leaders spoke after talks with Miroslav Lajcak, the EU envoy who oversaw the referendum. Lajcak is from Slovakia, which negotiated a "velvet divorce" from Czechoslovakia in 1993.
The union of Serbia and Montenegro shared an army, embassies, a few ministries and a parliament that rarely meets. But their partnership goes back to the end of World War One and their affairs are intertwined in many subtle ways.
Talks between the two after Montenegro's decision "could last a few weeks or up to two to three months", Montenegrin Foreign Minister Miodrag Vlahovic said.
Montenegrin leaders said there would be no stampede to establish independence without full consultation with Belgrade.
Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic said "continuation of cooperation with Serbia and defining our relations on a new basis" was a high priority. There would be no "rush into some euphoric, unilateral moves", he said.
"We hope to start talks with Serbia at the first possible moment after the results are final," Vlahovic said during a visit to Slovenia.
SEPARATE TALKS
Vlahovic said Montenegro would at once start to realize its EU ambitions by getting talks restarted for itself.
The EU broke off talks with Belgrade this month over its failure to hand over fugitive genocide indictee Ratko Mladic to the Hague U.N. tribunal.
European Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said the EU executive would prepare separate proposals for a negotiating mandate on Stabilization and Association Agreements with Montenegro and Serbia, and talks could resume.
His statement raised the prospect that Montenegro could race ahead of Serbia toward eventual EU membership.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana has voiced concern, however, at the risk of leaving Serbia out, suggesting talks with Belgrade should be resumed as soon as possible.
"Without Serbia on the way toward Brussels and the European Union, there would not be stability in the Balkans and therefore there would not be stability in the European continent," he said.
Diplomats said some older EU members were not keen to put Montenegro on a faster track, concerned it would humiliate Serbia and anger their own voters tired of EU enlargement.
As the downsizing job begins with dismantlement of the state union, one man announced his resignation on Tuesday.
Serbia-Montenegro president Svetozar Marovic, a Montenegrin who has been a prominent figure in the pro-independence camp said he would be in Belgrade next Thursday "to hold the last session of the Council of Ministers and resign...from the post of the president of the state union".
(Additional reporting by Gordana Filipovic, Marja Novak and Ljubinka Cagorovic in Podgorica and Paul Taylor in Brussels)"
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArtic ... ENEGRO.xml
PODGORICA, Serbia and Montenegro (Reuters) - Montenegro's split from Serbia and progress to independence picked up speed on Tuesday when the European Union proposed talks holding out the prospect of faster entry into the bloc than Belgrade.
Serbian President Boris Tadic accepted Montenegro's decision but Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, his political opponent, issued a statement saying his government "will completely accept the result" only when final figures are made public.
The small Adriatic republic voted in a referendum on Sunday by a wafer-thin margin to end its union with much larger Serbia and break up what had been the last remnant of federal Yugoslavia.
The European Commission said it would recommend separate talks with Montenegro, raising the prospect of Serbia being left behind in the EU race, shackled by its failure to arrest key war crimes suspects.
Official preliminary results of Montenegro's vote, announced on Tuesday, showed 55.5 percent of voters in the small, mountainous republic of 650,000 people had chosen to split from Serbia and reinstate independence it gave up 90 years ago. The EU had set a majority over 55 percent as binding.
Both Serbian leaders spoke after talks with Miroslav Lajcak, the EU envoy who oversaw the referendum. Lajcak is from Slovakia, which negotiated a "velvet divorce" from Czechoslovakia in 1993.
The union of Serbia and Montenegro shared an army, embassies, a few ministries and a parliament that rarely meets. But their partnership goes back to the end of World War One and their affairs are intertwined in many subtle ways.
Talks between the two after Montenegro's decision "could last a few weeks or up to two to three months", Montenegrin Foreign Minister Miodrag Vlahovic said.
Montenegrin leaders said there would be no stampede to establish independence without full consultation with Belgrade.
Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic said "continuation of cooperation with Serbia and defining our relations on a new basis" was a high priority. There would be no "rush into some euphoric, unilateral moves", he said.
"We hope to start talks with Serbia at the first possible moment after the results are final," Vlahovic said during a visit to Slovenia.
SEPARATE TALKS
Vlahovic said Montenegro would at once start to realize its EU ambitions by getting talks restarted for itself.
The EU broke off talks with Belgrade this month over its failure to hand over fugitive genocide indictee Ratko Mladic to the Hague U.N. tribunal.
European Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said the EU executive would prepare separate proposals for a negotiating mandate on Stabilization and Association Agreements with Montenegro and Serbia, and talks could resume.
His statement raised the prospect that Montenegro could race ahead of Serbia toward eventual EU membership.
EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana has voiced concern, however, at the risk of leaving Serbia out, suggesting talks with Belgrade should be resumed as soon as possible.
"Without Serbia on the way toward Brussels and the European Union, there would not be stability in the Balkans and therefore there would not be stability in the European continent," he said.
Diplomats said some older EU members were not keen to put Montenegro on a faster track, concerned it would humiliate Serbia and anger their own voters tired of EU enlargement.
As the downsizing job begins with dismantlement of the state union, one man announced his resignation on Tuesday.
Serbia-Montenegro president Svetozar Marovic, a Montenegrin who has been a prominent figure in the pro-independence camp said he would be in Belgrade next Thursday "to hold the last session of the Council of Ministers and resign...from the post of the president of the state union".
(Additional reporting by Gordana Filipovic, Marja Novak and Ljubinka Cagorovic in Podgorica and Paul Taylor in Brussels)"
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArtic ... ENEGRO.xml
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