1. Meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania, on 31 May 2001, we the members of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly express grave concern at the continued tensions and recurrent outbursts of violence in several parts of South-East Europe. We assert our conviction, nevertheless, that all the countries of the region have a vocation to become full members of the community of democratic euro-atlantic nations. Such a development is essential for the security and stability of the whole of Europe.

2. We congratulate the citizens of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on their courageous decision to remove Slobodan Milosevic from power last October. We welcome the reform course embraced by the Serb and Yugoslav Governments, and their willingness to find a negotiated outcome to outstanding problems, including particularly the grave tensions of the Presevo Valley.

3. We recommend that relations between the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and NATO should soon be formalised through a PfP agreement, provided that the necessary conditions are fulfilled. The full benefits of its association with Alliance countries will be conditional upon its good faith in co-operating with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and implementing the Dayton agreement.

4. We reject extremist separatism as a means of solving ethnic conflict and condemn the use of violence to that end. Therefore,

a. We urge the Bosnian Croats to renounce their separatist plans, reasserting that the Dayton agreement is the sole basis on which Bosnian institutions can be developed and adapted.

b. We call on all parties in Bosnia and Herzegovina to allow for the safe return of refugees and to enable all communities to live together peacefully in a multi-ethnic society.

c. We warn the Kosovar, Macedonian and Serbian Albanians that repeated acts of violence from extreme nationalist armed groups among them have severely depleted the capital of sympathy built up in their favour during the Kosovo crisis and particularly condemn the terrorist activity in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia*.

d. Concerned about the risk that the considerable progress in furthering a multi-ethnic society in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia will be jeopardized, we urge all political parties in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia to negotiate in good faith to address the political and economic grievances of the Albanian population in the country.

e. We urge all parties in Kosovo to co-operate with the international community in establishing the conditions necessary for the building of multi-ethnic institutions and for economic development in the province, stressing in particular the role of the elections due at the end of the year in providing Kosovo with a stable democratic self-government, in accordance with United Nations Resolution 1244.

5. We express our readiness to support any negotiated and mutually acceptable solution to relations between Serbia and Montenegro.

6. We call on SFOR as well as KFOR and UNMIK to take a more resolute approach in disarming militias, securing borders, guarding public gatherings as well as in arresting war criminals as indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, in order to prevent a recurrence of ethnic violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo respectively, as well as a destabilization of neighbouring countries.

7. We reiterate our conviction that support for stability, democracy and lasting security in South-East Europe is a common responsibility of the North American and European Allies. We are committed to supporting that process at the parliamentary level.

*Turkey recognises the Republic of Macedonia with its constitutional name.