Cannons blasted salutes yesterday to mark the first anniversary of Montenegro's independence and the leaders of Europe's newest country renewed promises to take the Balkan nation into NATO and the European Union.
On 21st May last year the Montenegrin people voted to sever their state's alliance with Serbia, bringing a formal end to the last union of the Yugoslavian federation. This tiny state of 600,00 people officially proclaimed independence on 3rd June 2006.