Von der Leyen: No Place for Glorifying Mladic in EU

The European Parliament spent two consecutive days in Strasbourg discussing Ratko Mladic’s funeral and what the scenes from his burial mean for Serbia’s path to EU membership. On September 15, lawmakers opened a dedicated plenary debate on the glorification of war crimes in Serbia, and the very next day European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen raised the same topic in her annual State of the Union address. For Belgrade, the message from several European officials was unambiguous: the images of military honors at the funeral have directly shaped how Brussels now views Serbia’s EU prospects, just as the country heads into elections and the European Commission prepares to publish its annual progress report in late October.

Ratko Mladic, commander of the Army of Republika Srpska during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, was sentenced in The Hague to life in prison for genocide and other war crimes. He was buried on September 7 at Topcider Cemetery in Belgrade with state and military honors. According to the Bosnian news outlet Detektor, more than 10,000 people from Serbia and Republika Srpska attended the funeral, among them ministers, military representatives and politicians from Republika Srpska. As reported by N1, the EU’s top officials, including European Council President Antonio Costa, condemned the glorification of Mladic at the time, and Marta Kos canceled a planned visit to Belgrade over it.

The Strasbourg debate

The plenary debate, titled “The funeral of Ratko Mladic and the glorification of war crimes in Serbia,” opened at 2:15 PM on September 15 with remarks from EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos. She said the events of the previous week had brought back memories of one of the darkest chapters in recent European history, and recalled that she had visited Srebrenica the year before, where seven genocide victims had been buried while many others remain unfound three decades later.

“The European Commission has made it clear that glorifying war criminals, denying genocide and engaging in revisionism are not compatible with our values,” and have no place either in the Union or in candidate countries, Kos said.

She added that “Serbia must confront its past,” while stressing that the scenes from the funeral do not represent the whole of Serbian society, noting that she had received messages from a large number of Serbian citizens who reject the glorification of convicted war criminals.

“That Serbia deserves to be heard, that Serbia deserves support, and that Serbia has a place in Europe,” the commissioner said, adding that the dignity of genocide and war crime victims is not up for negotiation.

Alongside Kos, the debate featured Croatian MEP Davor Ivo Stier, spokesman for the European People’s Party group on Serbia, European Parliament rapporteur for Serbia Tonino Picula, Stephen Nikola Bartulica from the European Conservatives and Reformists group, Helmut Brandstätter from the Renew Europe group, and Vladimir Prebilic, who used his time at the podium to thank Marta Kos for not traveling to Belgrade.

Stier said that “despite every warning, Ratko Mladic was buried with military honors,” adding: “For the sake of the Srebrenica victims, we cannot play down the responsibility of the Serbian authorities, nor can we for Mladic’s victims on EU soil.” Picula said: “The EU needs to stop drifting in its relationship with such a government. It must not turn away from the facts.” Brandstätter was the most blunt: “A government that tolerates the glorification of Mladic cannot be part of the EU.”

Bartulica demanded that acknowledging the aggression and paying compensation to all victims be made a condition for continuing Serbia’s EU membership talks. Ahead of the debate, the European People’s Party group, in a statement also relayed by MEP Stier, condemned the presence of senior Serbian officials and the military honors paid at the funeral, saying it jeopardizes Serbia’s path to membership. A resolution on the matter was announced to follow the debate.

Von der Leyen: I was horrified

The next day, September 16, von der Leyen delivered her annual State of the Union address to the European Parliament. Most of her speech focused on climate change, artificial intelligence, defense, migration, the war in Ukraine and sanctions on Russia, but part of it was devoted to the funeral in Belgrade.

“I was horrified by the scenes from Ratko Mladic’s funeral in Belgrade last week. He committed the most horrific crimes against humanity. Glorifying war criminals simply has no place in the European Union,” von der Leyen said.

With that, the Commission president personally backed the position Kos had set out a day earlier, at a moment when the Parliament was also debating a resolution on the same issue.

What it means for Serbia

For Belgrade, the message from Strasbourg cuts two ways. On one hand, Marta Kos repeated that the Commission will not turn its back on the citizens of Serbia who want a European future, and that it distinguishes between the state and its current government. On the other, a number of MEPs, mainly from the European People’s Party, openly questioned whether membership talks should continue at all while the government in power gave Mladic’s funeral a state framework. Bartulica turned that into a concrete demand, acknowledgment of the aggression and compensation for victims as a condition, while Stier warned that European money should not go to those who fail to distance themselves from the policies of Slobodan Milosevic.

This dispute inside the Parliament does not immediately change the formal status of the talks, but it directly shapes the tone the Commission will use in writing its annual report on Serbia. Kos announced that the Commission will consider whether Serbia’s European ambitions are genuine, and that assessment now comes after two consecutive public debates in which Mladic’s funeral was the central topic rather than a side note in a broader report.

The deadline ahead

The European Commission publishes its annual progress report on Serbia in late October. Kos closed the debate by saying that Serbian citizens will have the chance, in the upcoming elections, to decide which direction they want the country to take, and that Brussels expects those elections to be free, fair, transparent and in line with European and international standards. Whether the October report brings a harsher tone toward Belgrade, or Kos’s call to separate the government from society prevails, will also depend on what happens on the ground in Serbia between now and then.