The European Union’s patience with Serbia has run out, with the funeral of convicted Bosnian Serb war criminal Ratko Mladić serving as the latest and most visible sign of a widening political gap between Belgrade and Brussels, German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) argues.
In a commentary published on September 10, FAZ Brussels correspondent Thomas Gutschker says Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić has for years been testing the limits of the EU’s willingness to tolerate policies that conflict with European values and interests.
“EU patience with Serbia has run out,” reads the headline of Gutschker’s commentary.
For years, the EU has shown considerable tolerance toward candidate countries, recognizing the difficulties involved in implementing reforms and balancing national interests with the obligations of European integration.
But, Gutschker argues, that patience has limits.
“When a government does not even try to find this balance and systematically violates European values, even angelic patience eventually runs out,” he writes.
He points to Turkey and Georgia as examples of countries that have already experienced the consequences of political disagreements with Brussels, with their accession processes effectively frozen.
“Serbia is now on the same path,” Gutschker argues.
Mladić’s funeral as a turning point
According to the FAZ commentary, the September 7 funeral of Ratko Mladić in Belgrade was the event that finally “filled the cup.”
Mladić, the former commander of the Bosnian Serb Army, was convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and sentenced to life imprisonment.
His funeral was accompanied by military honors and attended by senior Serbian officials, as well as other prominent political figures from Serbia and the region.
For Gutschker, the significance of the ceremony lies not only in the funeral itself but in what it symbolized about Serbia’s unresolved relationship with its wartime past.
He argues that Vučić had been filling the EU’s metaphorical “cup” for years through a series of policies that increasingly conflict with Brussels.
Among the issues cited are Serbia’s failure to advance the normalization of relations with Kosovo, concerns over the rule of law, democracy and the separation of powers, as well as Vučić’s close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Gutschker also highlights Belgrade’s refusal to join EU sanctions against Russia following Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
“Burying convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić with military honors and senior state officials is the point that filled the cup,” he writes.
Brussels faces a difficult choice
The FAZ commentary argues that the European Council should draw consequences from Serbia’s conduct.
At the same time, Gutschker does not expect the EU to immediately close the door on Serbia’s membership aspirations.
One reason, he suggests, is the timing of the parliamentary elections expected in Serbia toward the end of October.
Brussels may therefore be reluctant to take the most drastic step before Serbian voters have an opportunity to influence the country’s political direction.
For Serbian citizens, Gutschker presents the period ahead as potentially decisive for the country’s European future.
“For Serbs, this could be the last opportunity for a European perspective,” he concludes.
The argument reflects a broader debate within the EU over whether its long-standing strategy of engagement with Belgrade is still producing meaningful political and democratic reforms.
For years, Brussels has sought to keep Serbia firmly on the European path while maintaining dialogue with Vučić’s government despite disagreements over Kosovo, democratic standards and Serbia’s relationship with Russia.
The Mladić funeral, in Gutschker’s assessment, has made that balancing act increasingly difficult to sustain.
The question now is whether the EU will turn its criticism into concrete political consequences — and whether Serbia’s leadership will respond by changing course or continuing to test how far Brussels is willing to go.
