Serbia - Montenegro

The union of Serbia and Montenegro was voted into existence by the Yugoslav parliament in February 2003.

The parliaments of Serbia and Montenegro had already approved the constitutional charter for the new union. Yugoslavia formally ceased to be.

Serbia and Montenegro, the two republics still left in the old Yugoslav federation, had agreed the previous year to scrap remnants of the ex-communist state and create a new, looser union of Serbia and Montenegro. The EU-brokered deal was intended to stabilize the region by settling Montenegrin demands for independence and preventing further changes to Balkan borders.

Under its constitutional charter, the union has a federal presidency and federal defense and foreign ministries but the two republics are semi-independent states in charge of their own economies and with their own legislation. The union arrangement is to remain in place for a minimum of three years after which the two republics can hold referenda on whether to keep or scrap it.

Kosovo is de facto an international protectorate but legally is part of Serbia. Its status remains the subject of a bitter dispute between the Albanian majority, who seek independence, and the minority Serbs. It is a dispute in which Belgrade retains a keen interest.

The Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia, consisting of Serbia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Hercegovina and Macedonia, was proclaimed in 1945. Under authoritarian communist leader Josip Broz Tito the lid was kept on ethnic tensions. The federation lasted for over 10 years after his death in 1980 but under Serbian nationalist leader Slobodan Milosevic it fell apart in bloodshed through the 1990s.

The secession of Slovenia and Macedonia came relatively peacefully but there were devastating wars in Croatia and Bosnia. Serbia and Montenegro together formed the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia between 1992 and 2003.

In 1998 violence flared in the autonomous province of Kosovo in Serbia. The Kosovo Liberation Army, supported by the majority ethnic Albanians, came out in open rebellion against Serbian rule. International pressure on President Milosevic grew amid the escalating violence.

Nato launched air strikes in Kosovo and Serbia in March 1999. An exodus of ethnic Albanians to neighboring countries gathered pace. The UN took over administration of the region after Serbian forces had been driven out.

Several years later, in November 2005, UN-sponsored talks on the future status of Kosovo got under way. The talks are chaired by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari.

Montenegrin leaders distanced themselves from Milosevic's handling of Kosovo, and after his downfall in October 2000 were increasingly keen for independence.

Those plans were shelved but not forgotten with the agreement to establish the union of Serbia and Montenegro. The issue will return to the foreground in 2006.