At a meeting on Monday, the General Affairs and External Relations Council welcomed the Commission's communication "The Western Balkans on the road to the EU: Consolidating stability, raising prosperity" as a good basis for further work in preparing discussions at an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers and an informal meeting of EU and Western Balkan foreign ministers due to take place in Salzburg in March this year.
"The EU remains committed to help the Western Balkans countries on their road to the EU through practical measures to make the European perspective more tangible," the Council said in its conclusions.
The Council underlined the importance of full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia by both Serbia and Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, noting that the pace and conclusions of negotiations on Stabilisation and Association Agreements with these countries would depend on full cooperation with the Hague-based tribunal.
The EU foreign ministers called on both countries to take decisive action to ensure that remaining fugitive indictees, notably Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic and his military commander Ratko Mladic, were brought to The Hague.
On the subject of Montenegro, the Council concluded that the Constitutional Charter of Serbia and Montenegro allowed Podgorica to hold a referendum on independence after a three-year period, stressing that such a process had to conform to internationally recognised democratic standards.