ABSTRACT
The high-level delegation from Serbia and Montenegro to London in January 2005 was no routine visit, nor was Jack Straw’s welcoming speech merely part of the normal diplomatic niceties. President Svetozar Marovic, Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic, Defence Minister Davinic and International Economic Relations Minister Ivanovic also met with Prime Minister Tony Blair and Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon in a clear demonstration of the mutual importance attached to the visit.2 As the director of the Royal United Services Institute, Jonathan Eyal, interviewed the following day by the BBC, explained
The British government understands perhaps better than other governments that stability in the Balkans would be quite catastrophic if Serbian people believed that they . . . would always pay for the mistakes and evils of the Milosevic regime . . . if there are talks about full membership of Croatia in the EU, then Serbia must send a signal that it wishes to follow that same path . . . It is disappointing that some countries, including the US, still adhere to the old political isolation or ignore what is happening in Belgrade, instead of offering the necessary ‘carrot’.3
