Diplomatic scandal after Ratko Mladić’s death: EU enlargement commissioner cancels Serbia visit

The return of Ratko Mladić’s remains to Serbia has triggered a diplomatic crisis with Brussels. European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos canceled a planned visit to Serbia after a government aircraft brought the former Bosnian Serb commander’s coffin to Belgrade, draped in the Serbian flag.

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The glorification surrounding his death is incompatible with the values on which the European path is built. This path requires confronting the past, genuine reconciliation and respect for the victims of war crimes.

Mladić died on Aug. 27 at the age of 84 in a United Nations prison hospital in The Hague. He was serving a life sentence for genocide and crimes against humanity. His remains were handed to Serbian authorities at Rotterdam The Hague Airport on Sept. 3. Serbian Justice Minister Nenad Vujic traveled on the aircraft with members of Mladić’s family.

Kos said on X that the glorification accompanying Mladić’s death could not be reconciled with the values underpinning Serbia’s European path. “The glorification surrounding his death is incompatible with the values on which the European path is built. This path requires confronting the past, genuine reconciliation and respect for the victims of war crimes,” she wrote. She added that those values were not negotiable and said she would not make the planned visit “at this time.”

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The values underpinning our common future are not negotiable. In this context, I have decided not to make the planned visit to Serbia at this time.

Kos had been due to visit Serbia, an official EU candidate, for routine meetings and a GLOBSEC event. Earlier, speaking in Dublin, she warned that Belgrade’s handling of Mladić’s funeral would be an important test. “It is not just about the technical part, about what they do in the accession process... it is about how they align with our values,” she said.

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It is not just about the technical part, about what they do in the accession process... it is about how they align with our values.

Mladić commanded the Bosnian Serb army from 1992. His forces besieged Sarajevo for more than three years and carried out the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, in which more than 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys were killed. The U.N.-backed tribunal for the former Yugoslavia convicted him in 2017. Vujic later responded that Serbia would “ensure that everything proceeds peacefully and with dignity.” The circumstances of the funeral remained unclear in the supplied report.

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Ensure that everything proceeds peacefully and with dignity.