Serbia welcomes move to push European integration
The EU's decision to analyse Serbia and Montenegro's progress towards European integration separately, has been welcomed in Belgrade.
According to Radio Free Europe the Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Miroljub Labus, a critic of the joint state, called this meeting "a historic one for Serbia".
Join EUobserver today
Get the EU news that really matters
Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.
Choose your plan
... or subscribe as a group
Already a member?
In his opinion the decision removes a potential obstacle to Serbia's EU integration by recognizing that the Serbian and Montenegrin economies have little in common.
In Podgorica, pro-independence Montenegrin President Filip Vujanovic stressed that the union state has proven counterproductive and expensive.
Last week during an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers agreed to investigate economic development in the two nations separately in order to find practical solutions for economic issues.
Along with all the other states from the Balkans, Serbia and Montenegro was promised future EU membership at the Thessaloniki Summit, in June 2003.
Twin-track
Although the EU endorses the year old State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, the block "wants to be realistic when it comes to practical issues", the Dutch foreign minister Bernard Bot explained to the press last week.
Serbia and Montenegro will be offered separate trade tariffs by European Union governments seeking to foster their economic development.
It is hoped the "twin track'' approach will spur agricultural and industrial exports from the two republics.
Serbia and Montenegro, although a union, manage their economic affairs, tax collection and government spending separately.