Montenegro neemt kleine stap richting EU (en)

The tiny Balkan state of Montenegro on Thursday (15 March) achieved the first small step on the long road to EU membership.

EU enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn i and Montenegrin prime minister Zeljko Sturanovic both initialled a pre-entry deal on a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA), with a formal agreement on the SAA to come only after Montenegro has carried out further internal reforms.

However, it is a significant step for Montenegro which sees itself one day joining the EU.

"The agreement means more EU trading opportunities, creating job places, development, close cooperation in fighting organized crime," Mr Rehn said according to AFP news agency.

"Montenegro has stepped towards EU membership," he added.

The move is also a symbolic boost for Montenegro which recently split from a state union with Serbia.

Both Serbia and Montenegro opened SAA talks with the EU in 2005 but Brussels then called off talks with Serbia citing failure to cooperate with the war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

Montenegro seceded from union with Serbia in May last year and then took up SAA talks independently with the EU.

Referring to Serbia, Mr Rehn repeated his stance that war crimes suspects need to be arrested and brought to The Hague, according to DPA news agency.

Recent statements by EU foreign ministers have suggested Serbia could re-open SAA talks with fugitives still at large, but that the Serb SAA process could only be concluded once they are in the dock.