EU agrees first step for Serbia membership

Serbia and Montenegro was given a double boost on Thursday when the EU agreed a preliminary step in the long road to membership and the UN expressed its satisfaction that it was co-operating with its Hague war crime tribunal.

EU ambassadors meeting in Brussels agreed that talks should be opened with Serbia on a so-called Stabilisation and Association Agreement, the first formal link with a view to union membership for a country.

These agreements cover co-operation in justice and h...