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Montenegro to Call for Talks on Dissolving Joint State with Serbia
Thursday, August 19, 2004 2:00 PM
Miodrag Vukovic, a leader of Montenegro's governing Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), said in Podgorica on 18 August that the Montenegrin authorities will formally propose to Serbia in September that the two sides start talks on dissolving the joint state of Serbia and Montenegro, which was launched in 2003 as a result of much pressure from the EU, RFE/RL's South Slavic and Albanian Languages Service reported. Vukovic suggested that Belgrade and Podgorica might review three options, starting with total independence. A second possibility might be to link two internationally recognized, independent states in an association on the model of the Commonwealth of Independent States that exists among some successor states to the former Soviet Union. A third option might be to remain in the joint state until 2005, when a referendum on independence will automatically take place. Under the terms according to which the joint state was set up, it will remain until at least 2005, at which time either or both republics have the option of calling for a referendum on independence. Among the major parties in Serbia, only the G-17 Plus party favors dissolving the joint state (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 2 August 2004). PMCited from: Montenegro to Call for Talks on Dissolving Joint State with Serbia, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 19 August 2004. Copyright (c) 2004. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. www.rferl.org.
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