26-MAY-1993 11:02
EASTERN ADRIATIC UNIT
RESTRICTED
071 270 3977
P.02
RECOGNITION OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA (SERBIA AND
MONTENEGRO)
1. We and EC Partners recognise neither the FRY, nor Serbia, nor Montenegro as independent states. The FRY claims to be the continuation of the former Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY), a claim which we and other Community Partners reject. We consider that the SFRY has ceased to exist, leaving no continuing state. Each of the former Yugoslav republics (including the FRY) is a successor to it, and needs to be recognised and to apply for membership of international organisations in its own right. Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Macedonia have all done so. The FRY has neither sought recognition, nor applied for membership of international organisations, but attempted to continue to fill the SFRY'S seat. The FRY has been excluded from participation in the work of the UN General Assembly, ECOSOC and their subsidiary bodies, and suspended from participation in the CSCE. It has not been admitted as a member of the IFIS or EBRD.
2. The position over recognition leaves our Embassy in Belgrade and the "Yugoslav" Embassy in London in an uncertain state since they were accredited to and from a state (the SFRY) which has now ceased to exist. Strictly, this means that we cannot be in diplomatic relations with the FRY, but the value to us of our Belgrade Embassy has so far outweighed the problems of its uncertain status. Similar problems arise in our dealings with the federal authorities of the FRY (President Cosic, Prime Minsiter Kontic etc). These too have weighed lighter than the
need to continue to be able to put pressure on the Serbs.
3. The status of the republics of Serbia and Montenegro presents fewer problems, since they existed as parts of the SFRY as did their governmental structures. We can thus justify our dealings with their presidents (Milosevic and Bulatovic) as leaders of governments whose internal structures and jurisdictions predate the dissolution of the SFRY, even though the international status of the FRY itself remains undecided.
0519frystatus
RESTRICTED