PATTEN MEETS SENIOR SERBIA, MONTENEGRO OFFICIALS

BELGRADE, May 11 (Hina) - When work will begin on a feasibility study on Serbia-Montenegro's integration into the European Union depends on the country's cooperation with the Hague war crimes tribunal and the implementation of the action plan on the harmonisation of the economies of Serbia and Montenegro, EU External Affairs Commissioner Chris Patten told officials of the state union and its two republics in Belgrade on Tuesday.#L# Patten said some progress had been made but that it had not been on the level expected. He said he wanted to see Serbia-Montenegro and political and economic reforms succeed. Patten urged the officials to think about commitments to international institutions, including cooperation with the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, which he said would prove the country was oriented to the future and not the past. Patten held talks with Serbia-Montenegro Deputy Foreign Minister Predrag Boskovic, Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, Serbian Deputy PM Miroljub Labus, Montenegrin PM Milo Djukanovic, and Serbia-Montenegro President Svetozar Marovic. Djukanovic said Montenegro was not responsible for the noncooperation with the Hague tribunal, and that the state union was responsible for implementing the aforementioned action plan. Kostunica's office said in a press release the Serbian PM had briefed Patten about a plan to politically solve the situation in Kosovo which Patten said was a good starting point for talks. He added the EU felt the most important thing was to realise the so-called standard before status policy. At Belgrade's Rex cinema Patten opened an exhibition of photographs on EU activity in Croatia, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, and Serbia-Montenegro. (Hina) ha