President George W. Bush sent a letter to the U.S. Congress on 29 May announcing the end of the 11-year-old "national emergency" declared against Belgrade in response to its wars in Croatia and Bosnia

Bush hailed "the strong commitment to political and economic reform shown [recently] by senior officials in the government of Serbia and Montenegro." He noted that lifting the emergency ends "a source of bilateral concern for the United States and Serbia and Montenegro." Bush added that economic and legal sanctions will remain in force against approximately 150 individuals and organizations considered to be obstructing peace and stability in the former Yugoslavia. The list includes indicted war criminals such as Croatian General Ante Gotovina, former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, and Bosnian Serb wartime leaders Radovan Karadzic and General Ratko Mladic. Among the organizations listed is Serbia's Ravnogora Chetnik Movement. New to the list is former Macedonian Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski.