The Yugoslav parliament voted overwhelmingly today in favour of a plan to abolish the Balkan federation and replace it with a looser union between its last remaining members, Serbia and Montenegro.
The move clears the way for experts to flesh out a new constitution from the blueprint, pushed through by the European Union in March.
The West is keen to head off a Montenegrin drive for independence that it fears would destabilise the region.
The Serb and Montenegrin parliaments had already approved the plan, which would consign Yugoslavia to history after more than seven decades of existence in various forms. But analysts and diplomats still expect protracted battles over the details.