Belgrade steps towards joining E.U. (BBC News)

[Anarcho-Socialist]

Serbia and Montenegro will open talks on closer ties with the European Union later this year, the first step towards joining the EU. EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said Serbia must push reforms and extradite wanted men to the UN war crimes tribunal for talks to succeed.

Visiting Belgrade, he told politicians there is "no shortcut" to the EU. Serbia and Montenegro are among the last Balkan nations to begin "stabilisation" talks with the EU.

Talks on joining the stabilisation and association process, which offers generous financial aid and is seen as a precursor to EU entry, are now expected to begin in October.

Mr Rehn and Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica agreed to begin talks to mark the fifth anniversary of the fall of Serbia's nationalist former leader Slobodan Milosevic, the Agence France-Presse news agency reports.

More at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4456683.stm