Marovic said talks with Serbia's representatives must continue because Serbia was a very significant economic, political and regional partner for Montenegro, but also because of internal stability, given than more than 32 per cent of Montenegro's population consider themselves Serbs.
Marovic said he would talk with Serbian President Boris Tadic on Monday. Tadic's party has accepted talks with Montenegro about the alliance of independent states.
Asked if he expected Brussels to pressure the Montenegrin authorities to scrap plans to call a referendum and if everything might be postponed again, Marovic said Europe was not against citizens going to the referendum and that it would not pressure either Serbia or Montenegro.
He said Europe would insist on the referendum being organised in line with European standards, and added that it was now up to Montenegro to confirm that the referendum would not pose a threat, including to regional stability.
Earlier this year Montenegro has proposed to Serbia to form an alliance of independent states instead of the current state union, which it says is expensive and does not work. Apart from Tadic's Democratic Party, all other relevant political parties in Serbia are against the proposal.
The Montenegrin government has said the offer is valid until next February at the latest when, in accordance with the state union's constitutional charter, Montenegro becomes entitled to call a referendum at which its citizens will say in which and what kind of state they will live.
Montenegrin President Filip Vujanovic has said that if the answer from Serbia is negative, he will call the referendum within 90 days of the final deadline.