Die Zeit: Planned State Funeral for Mladić Shows Vučić Cannot Be an EU Partner

A planned state funeral for Ratko Mladić has prompted a sharp rebuke from Germany’s Die Zeit, which described the announcement as evidence that Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić cannot be a reliable European Union partner.

The weekly argued that the Serbian government had publicly insulted the victims of what it called Greater Serbian policy. It said the reaction showed that little had changed in Serbia three decades after the Balkan wars, and criticized the lack of a broad public debate about Serbian society’s responsibility and involvement in those events.

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It is a scandal. It shows that even thirty years after the end of the wars in the Balkans, little has changed in Serbia.

Die Zeit also questioned the EU’s approach to Serbia. Although Serbia has been an EU candidate since 2011, the commentary said the bloc’s expected power to make candidate countries more peaceful, democratic and prosperous had not developed in Serbia. It asked why the EU continued to treat Vučić as a dependable partner for Europeanization, calling him a nationalist rather than a committed European.

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A state funeral for the war criminal Mladić is a scandal, and proof that Vučić cannot be a partner.

The funeral controversy followed comments by Serbian Justice Minister Nenad Vujić that Mladić had been a general and would therefore receive the highest state honors. After Vučić said the arrangements would depend on Mladić’s family, Vujić softened his position two days later, saying the funeral would be dignified and consistent with the family’s wishes.

Mladić died in custody in The Hague on Aug. 27. He had been convicted of genocide against Bosnia’s Bosniak population in Srebrenica.

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Serbia is not at the end of the world, it is in Europe. It has been a candidate for EU membership since 2011.