Montenegro heads to independence after EU boost

Montenegro's split from Serbia and progress to independence picked up speed yesterday 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 yesterday, showed 55.5 per cent 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 per cent as binding. Both Serbian leaders spoke after talks with Miroslav Lajcak, the EU envoy who oversaw the referendum. Mr 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 I 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.