"Following Montenegro's independence, the European Commission has recommended to the Council to continue separate Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) negotiations on the basis of the results achieved so far," the Commission said in a statement.
The Commission has proposed new negotiating directives for Montenegro, which broke away from its union with Serbia after most Montenegrins voted for independence at a referendum on May 21, and has amended directives for Serbia as the sole successor to the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro.
"The Recommendation has no implications for the Commission's decision on 3 May 2006 to freeze the SAA negotiations as long as Serbia"s obligations are not fulfilled to co-operate fully with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). However, the adoption of this amendment will enable the Commission to resume the negotiations rapidly as soon as the obligations towards the ICTY are fulfilled," the statement said.