III OSCE
| Date | 01 September 2006 |
| Author | Arie Bloed |
| DOI | 10.1177/016934410602400309 |
| Published date | 01 September 2006 |
| Subject Matter | Part B: Human Rights News |
502
III OSCE
ARIE BLOED
1. MONTENEGRO NEWEST OSCE PARTICIPATING STATE
The disintegration of the former Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) still continues.
After a referendum in Montenegro, narrowly won by a majority in favour of
independence, the country left the federation with Serbia and declared its
independence on 3 June 2006. Only a few weeks later, on 22 June, the new State
was allowed to enter the OSCE as its 56
th
participating State and took its seat at the
Permanent Council. Serbia’s claim to be the successor State of the Republic of Serbia-
Montenegro was recognised and it, therefore, did not have to apply for entering the
OSCE as a new participating State. The last State to join OSCE was Andorra in April
1996. The outcome of the ongoing negotiations about the future status of Kosovo will
determine whether this UN protectorate will become the next former Yugoslav piece
of territory which will enter the OSCE as an independent State.
Montenegro decided to request joining OSCE before joining any other
international organisation which was duly acknowledged by the present Belgian
Chairmanship of the OSCE. ‘The new state that was born on 3 June has chosen the
OSCE as the first Organization it would join, as the first opportunity where it wanted
to express its newly found sovereignty’, said the Permanent Council’s Belgian
Chairman, Ambassador Bertrand de Crombrugghe. ‘There is no better way to express
a vote of confidence in this Organization, including in the norms and principles it
represents and the democratic governance it promotes’, he added.
The decision by the OSCE to accept Montenegro came into effect on 21 June,
following a one-week ‘silence procedure’ to hear any objections. None came. Serbia, as
successor State of the now-dissolved union Serbia-Montenegro, acceded automatically
to the OSCE. It continued its seat in the Permanent Council under the new shorter
name of Serbia earlier this month.
The former FRY has now split up in six new independent States with the future
status of Kosovo still pending, although not unlikely to become the 7
th
former
Yugoslav republic.
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