Serbia and Montenegro should move toward EU, Italy's foreign ministry says

Photo: Serbia and Montenegro should move toward EU, Italy's foreign ministry says

"We reiterate the need to confirm now - for both Serbia and Montenegro - the prospective of gradually moving closer to the EU," the ministry said in a statement.

It also urged the two countries to establish dialogue, paving the way for a "friendly and productive relationship," after Montenegrins voted Sunday in a referendum to secede from Serbia.

Serbia-Montenegro held the last union between republics of the Yugoslav federation after it split apart in a series of bloody wars in the 1990s.

Rome has been in favor of EU membership for Balkan countries, and both Serbia and Montenegro aspire to join the EU, but will now pursue the path separately, the AP reports.

Serbia's path remains blocked, however, until it extradites former Bosnian Serb commander, Gen. Ratko Mladic, to the U.N. war crimes tribunal in the Netherlands, to answer for atrocities related to the Bosnian war.