Global Policy Forum

During his stay in Vienna Serbian Minister of Justice Vladan Batic has hinted at the possibility of Serbia going independent if the law on cooperation with the Hague war crimes tribunal is not adopted by Yugoslav federal parliament on Thursday 21 June . Our correspondent in Vienna, Lidija Popovic, reports:

Serbia can no longer afford to be held hostage by its political partner in Montenegro, by its majority part that is against staying part of the common state or its minority section that wants to take Yugoslavia back to the time of Milosevic's regime, Batic said at a press conference in Vienna. The next session of the federal assembly is vital and its outcome will be crucial for many things of importance for Serbia and Yugoslavia, he said, adding that the failure to adopt the law on cooperation with the Hague tribunal could affect the survival of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Serbia:

"If the law is not adopted, then, I think, the time will come for us to tell both the Serbian and Yugoslav and international public that what will follow could mean taking Serbia back to the time when it was an independent state, a period which started after the Berlin Congress."

Reporter Serbia's ministers of justice and internal affairs Vladan Batic and Dusan Mihajlovic are in Vienna as part of a Serbian government delegation attending a seminar on public administration reforms being held in Vienna.