Luxembourg, 03/10/2005 (Agence Europe) - On 3 October, EU foreign ministers gave the go-ahead for opening negotiations with Serbia and Montenegro on a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the European Union. The General Affairs and External Relations Council agreed with the recommendation of the European Commission to open negotiations asap following substantial progress by Belgrade. In the conclusions document, the EU25 ministers explain: 'The opening of negotiations marks the first important step towards the establishment of contractual relations between the EU and Serbia and Montenegro. It demonstrates the EU's commitment to the full implementation of the Thessaloniki agenda, which emphasised that the future of the Western Balkans lies in the EU. The Council recalled that the speed with which Serbia and Montenegro moves closer to the EU will depend on how quickly it adopts and implements the necessary reforms and conforms to the Copenhagen criteria and requirements of the Stabilisation and Association process. The Council judged that the pace and conclusion of negotiations would depend in particular on … full cooperation with the ICTY…. The Council emphasised its expectation that Serbia and Montenegro will now take decisive action to ensure that all fugitive indictees, notably Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic, are finally brought to justice.' Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn was delighted to be able to travel to Belgrade on 10 October for the ceremony to mark the launch of the negotiations.
Bosnia Herzegovina. The Council on Monday 'expressed its deep disappointment at the decision by the National Assembly of Republika Srpska to reject the latest proposal for police reform which met the EU principles' (see EUROPE 9028) 'and regretted that it would not now be possible for Bosnia and Herzegovina to start negotiations on a Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) with the EU by the 10th anniversary of the Dayton Peace Agreement. The Council reaffirmed that the European Union stands ready to open SAA negotiations with Bosnia and Herzegovina as soon as possible, once the necessary conditions have been met… but a pre-requisite for this was agreement on police reform that respected the three EU principles.'