The EU formally recognized Montenegro's independence Monday, and
urged the tiny Balkan country to forge healthy relations with
Serbia.
EU foreign ministers said that the June 3 independence
declaration by Montenegro's parliament represented legal
confirmation of the outcome of a referendum, two weeks earlier, in
which 55.5 percent of Montenegrins voted to end their union with
Serbia.
That split dissolved the last vestiges of the former
Yugoslavia.
The EU ministers said they would build close ties with
Montenegro "as a sovereign, independent state," and urged its
Podgorica-based government "to pursue a direct and constructive
dialogue" on its future relations with Belgrade.
Spokesman Predrag Sekulic of Montenegro's governing Democratic
Party of Socialists said the country was pleased with the EU's
recognition. "It represents a great foundation for Montenegro's
future path to Europe."
Both Serbia and Montenegro are to join the EU, though neither
has formally been declared a candidate for membership.
The EU foreign ministers reaffirmed "the European perspective of
the western Balkans" whose wars of the 1990s have kept the region
out of the EU while other east European nations have joined.
Montenegro's 620,000 population is made up predominantly of
Christian Orthodox Slavs. Up to 15 percent are Slavic Muslims.
Ethnic Albanians account for 7 percent.
The country was recognized as an independent state in 1878 when
it became a monarchy. After World War I in 1918, it merged with
Serbia and some Slav-populated parts of the former Austro-Hungarian
Empire to form what later became Yugoslavia, which unraveled along
ethnic lines in the 1990s.
Croatia offers recognition
Croatia Monday became one of the first countries to recognize
Montenegro as an independent state, 15 years after they fought a
bloody war.
Iceland, Switzerland and Russia also recognize the tiny Balkan
state.
"The government of Croatia recognizes Montenegro as a sovereign
and independent state," the Croatian cabinet said Monday,
expressing readiness to "develop good neighborly relations and
co-operation" with Montenegro, to contribute to "peace, stability
and progress" in the region.
The two countries are to establish diplomatic relations formally
in the coming days.
In 1991, war broke out in Croatia when minority Serbs opposed
Croatia's independence from the dissolving Yugoslavia. At the time,
Montenegro and Serbia were allied in support of the Serb rebels in
Croatia, and Montenegrin troops participated in attacks on
Croatia's ancient city of Dubrovnik.
The war ended in 1995, and relations between Croatia and
Montenegro have greatly improved, particularly after the Milo
Djukanovic, president at that time, apologized in 2000 for the
crimes that Montenegro troops committed during the war.
The government said it was convinced that Montenegro is aware of
its role in Croatia's war, and that it was sure the countries would
"develop new relations of ... mutual respect, turned to the
future," the government statement said.
(China Daily June 13, 2006)
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