Visiting European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Javier Solana said in Belgrade on Wednesday that the EU was eagerly awaiting the start of negotiations on stabilization and association agreement with Serbia-Montenegro.

After talks with Serbia-Montenegro President Svetozar Marovic, Solana said that the negotiations should proceed in a professional atmosphere and be completed as soon as possible.

Securing a positive feasibility study from the EU earlier this year, Serbia-Montenegro has to conclude a stabilization and association agreement with the EU before gaining the EU candidate status.

Solana said the relations between Serbia-Montenegro and the EU have not changed and the Balkan country has a future in Europe.

The EU High Representative for the common foreign and security policy said that Serbia-Montenegro leadership has done much in cooperation with The Hague international tribunal, but the final move to arrest and extradite former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic is still expected.

Mladic, wanted by The Hague for atrocities in the 1992-1995 Bosnian war, is believed hiding in Serbia. His arrest and extradition has been a prerequisite for Serbia-Montenegro's chance to join the EU and NATO's peace partnership program.

Marovic said that the association negotiations, due in October, should be completed very quickly and that his country would in the meantime resolve the case of Ratko Mladic.

(Xinhua News Agency July 21, 2005)