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To: Dale Baker who wrote (8024)	6/26/1999 5:14:00 PM
From: Dale Baker	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 118717

OT - the circle gets smaller and smaller for Slobo: June 26, 1999 Montenegro Seeks More Independence -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A.P. INDEXES: TOP STORIES \| NEWS \| SPORTS \| BUSINESS \| TECHNOLOGY \| ENTERTAINMENT -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Filed at 4:05 p.m. EDT By The Associated Press PODGORICA, Yugoslavia (AP) -- Yugoslavia's smaller, pro-Western republic, Montenegro, is preparing to redefine its relations with its larger partner Serbia, including dramatic changes such as new tax and customs laws, a more effective administration and a new currency. On Friday, the U.S. State Department cautioned Montenegro, the more democratic partner in the two-republic Yugoslav federation, not to seek independence from Belgrade. ''Further disintegration of Yugoslavia would not serve to promote peace and stability in the Balkans,'' spokesman James Rubin said. ''Moreover, independence would not be a panacea for the challenges that Montenegro faces.'' Rubin also urged Belgrade to accommodate Montenegro's ''need for greater autonomy.'' Nevertheless, pressure for independence, or at least sweeping changes in its relations with Belgrade, is mounting in Montenegro, especially after the confrontation between NATO and Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic over the Serbian province Kosovo. Veselin Vukotic, a professor at the University in Podgorica and member of the Montenegrin team which is preparing the offer, told The Associated Press on Saturday that ''Montenegro must build a completely new system ... to be able to integrate into Europe.'' In order to achieve this, Montenegrin officials have to negotiate with foreign officials personally since they cannot do it through the Federal Yugoslav government. The federal government is isolated from the rest of the world, he said. ''Now either we will wait for something to happen in Serbia till we fall unconscious, or we do it ourselves,'' he said. One of the main steps in any economic reform is privatization, which requires foreign investments. ''But in order to attract the foreigners, we will have to have rules of the game which they recognize. They cannot adjust to local rules because Montenegro is not the only place in the world that needs investment,'' Vukotic said. Therefore, the economic reform would have to include a new tax and customs system, an effective administration and ''what is very important -- a stabile currency,'' Vukotic said. ''Montenegro will include a separate currency into it's offer to the Serbian government,'' he added. Montenegro's pro-western government has clearly said that it will offer Serbia a redefinition of their relations, but if Serbia refuses, the government in Podgorica will call a referendum on independence. It said it wants to move the Montenegro toward democracy and economic prosperity, with or without Serbia. ''There is no dry democracy,'' Vukotic said. ''You have to have a good economic basis to achieve democracy. If we want to solve the problem, we have to start from scratch ourselves. The federal institutions in Yugoslavia are dead.''