“They Have No Place in the EU”: Commission Rebukes Serbia Over Honors for Mladić

Thousands of people followed Ratko Mladić’s coffin on foot through Belgrade, applauding and chanting “hero, hero” as the convicted war criminal was taken to the cemetery. A Serbian army honor guard fired three shots into the air during the burial.

The funeral took place at the Church of Saint Luke, where Serbian Patriarch Porfirije conducted the service. Government ministers, political leaders from Bosnia’s Serb Republic and large crowds attended the ceremony, which gave Mladić the military honors Serbia had been warned against granting.

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Any glorification of war criminals, denial of genocide and revisionism run counter to the most fundamental European values and have no place in the EU or in countries seeking to join it.

The decision triggered a sharp response from Brussels. European Commission spokesman Christian Wigand said, “Any glorification of war criminals, denial of genocide and revisionism run counter to the most fundamental European values and have no place in the EU or in countries seeking to join it.” EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos canceled a planned visit to Serbia in protest, saying the glorification surrounding Mladić’s death was incompatible with the values underpinning the country’s European path.

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The glorification surrounding his death is incompatible with the values underpinning the European path.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić dismissed the EU criticism and accused Kos of “lying.” He did not attend the funeral. The article says Vučić has intensified anti-Western rhetoric ahead of early parliamentary elections expected next month. Serbia’s opposition remains divided: the center-left condemned the honors, the center-right has remained silent, and the far right has celebrated Mladić as a hero of the Serbian nation.

After Mladić’s death, nationalist supporters held vigils, painted new murals of his face in Belgrade and set off flares in his honor. Serbia continues to reject the term genocide for the Srebrenica massacre, calling it a “horrific crime.” Last year, it also gave a military funeral to former army chief Nebojša Pavković, who had been convicted of war crimes.

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Lying.