European Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos has issued a blunt warning to Serbia over plans to give former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladić a state funeral with military honors, saying that glorifying convicted war criminals is incompatible with European values.
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the Bled Strategic Forum, Kos described Mladić as a convicted war criminal who was sentenced to life imprisonment for genocide and crimes against humanity committed during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“The glorification of war criminals is contrary to fundamental European values and has no place in the European Union, nor in countries aspiring to become members,” Kos said.
Her remarks came after Serbian Justice Minister Nenad Vujić said that Mladić was entitled to a national funeral and the military honors to which he was legally entitled. Serbian authorities have announced plans for a state funeral following Mladić’s death in The Hague, where he had been serving a life sentence.
Kos said she would closely monitor developments in Serbia and indicated that the way the country handles the issue could factor into the EU’s assessment of its progress toward European integration.
“I hope that the government in Belgrade is aware of what is at stake,” she said.
The commissioner also delivered a broader message about Serbia’s European trajectory, arguing that Belgrade cannot simultaneously pursue EU membership while maintaining positions that conflict with the bloc’s fundamental values.
“You cannot sit on two chairs. At some point, you have to decide where you belong,” Kos said, stressing that Serbia must demonstrate a clear strategic commitment to the European path and implement the necessary reforms.
Mladić’s record
Mladić served as commander of the Army of Republika Srpska during the Bosnian war. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia convicted him in 2017 of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes and sentenced him to life imprisonment. His conviction and sentence were upheld on appeal in 2021.
Among the crimes for which he was convicted was his role in the Srebrenica genocide, where more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys were murdered in July 1995.
For survivors and victims’ families, the proposed state honors are therefore not simply a matter of funeral protocol. They represent a potential public rehabilitation of a man whose responsibility for some of the worst crimes of the Bosnian war was established by an international court.
Kos’s intervention places the controversy directly within the context of Serbia’s EU accession process. Her message was clear: the treatment of convicted war criminals is not separate from European integration — it is part of the values against which candidate countries are judged.
As Serbia weighs how to proceed with Mladić’s funeral, Brussels is signaling that the decision could have consequences beyond a single ceremony.
