Brussels, 05/02/2003 (Agence Europe) - Javier Solana, EU High Representative for CFSP, welcomed the adoption of the Constitutional Charter, and its Implementing Law, by the Federal Parliament of Yugoslavia, in Belgrade on Tuesday, one week after the parliaments of Serbia and Montenegro (see EUROPE of 1 February, p.4). The Federal Parliament, moreover, officially proclaimed the birth of the new State of Serbia and Montenegro, Yugoslavia having ceased to exist. "Now it is up to the new institutions of the Union and to the governments of Serbia and Montenegro to make the Union work and to make the promise of European integration a reality". Mr Solana declares in a statement that "the institutions should be in place within a month and the Internal Market and Trade Action Plans should be finalised by the end of March". He then again recalls that United Nations Resolution 1244 remains the basis for the future status of Kosovo. (Within the new State, the Serb and Montenegrin populations will benefit from the same rights and will be able to decide, at the end of three years and after a referendum, whether or not to quit the Union).
In Belgrade on Thursday, Solana will meet President Djindjic Kostunica and Montenegrin and Serb Prime Ministers Milo Djukanovic and Zoran Djindjic to discuss the setting up of the Union.