18/02/2002 (Agence Europe) - Several prominent Europeans, including MEPs Emma Bonino and Heidi Ruhe, former Finnish Foreign Minister Par Stenback and Austrian Gareth Evans, former Dutch Home Secretary Ed van Thijn and Desmond O'Malley, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Irish Parliament, have written to Javier Solana expressing their deep concern at the EU's approach ove relations between Serbia and Montenegro. In their letter, drawn up by the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) and the International Crisis Group, the signatories state that they back integration between Balkan countries, but send out a warning: "The EU must not force unwilling partners into a new federation(…) Too often in history, the great powers of the day have tried this approach and then had to deal with the consequences.". According to them, "the EU should refrain from expressing any further preference (…) but simply facilitate an amicable resolution without further delay, and agreeing to be supportive in all cases". In addition, they remark, "there is no reason that a small economy of this type cannot be viable - in terms of population Montenegro is about the same as Cyprus, and much larger than Malta".