EU and UK criticize Mladic’s funeral in Serbia
The European Union and the United Kingdom expressed outrage over the funeral of convicted war criminal Ratko Mladic, held in Belgrade, Serbia. Thousands of people attended the ceremony on Monday, including at least six Serbian ministers. Mladic was given military honors, and the service was led by the head of the Serbian Orthodox Church, reports Deutsche Welle English.
European Union reaction
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa described as deeply regrettable the signs of official support for the funeral and the presence of senior Serbian officials. According to them, this demonstrates an inability to confront a dark chapter of Europe’s recent history and contradicts the values on which Serbia’s path to the EU is based.
A European Commission spokesperson told the German news agency DPA that the EU is assessing further steps in response to the ceremony. EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas stated that Serbia’s movement toward the European Union requires an unequivocal commitment to fundamental European values and historical truth.
Serbia applied for EU membership in 2009, and in 2012 the European Council confirmed its candidate status.
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Diplomatic steps by the United Kingdom and Bosnia and Herzegovina
The United Kingdom’s Foreign Office summoned Serbia’s chargé d’affaires. The British ministry stressed that Mladic, as a military commander, directed crimes among the gravest committed in Europe since World War II. It also stated that glorifying a convicted war criminal undermines trust, deepens divisions, and is incompatible with reconciliation in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region.
Bosnia and Herzegovina, for its part, expelled two Serbian diplomats. The country’s Foreign Minister Elmedin Konakovic said that Belgrade had crossed a red line with its attitude toward the funeral. He also reported plans to recall most staff from Bosnia and Herzegovina’s embassy in Belgrade in order to reduce bilateral ties to the minimum possible level.
Funeral circumstances
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic did not attend the ceremony, but his son Danilo was present. Vucic rejected claims that Mladic was being glorified and stated that the funeral was organized by the family, not the state. At the same time, the presence of military personnel and government officials, as well as the use of a government plane to transport Mladic’s body to Belgrade, sparked outrage.
Mladic, who commanded the Army of Republika Srpska during the 1992–1995 war in Bosnia, died last month in The Hague, where he was serving a life sentence. In 2017, he was found guilty of genocide for organizing the mass killing in Srebrenica in July 1995, when about 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were killed.
