Serbia’s decision to grant former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladić the highest state honors has drawn criticism in Brussels, with European Parliament member Sandro Gozi warning that the move crosses a line that no EU candidate country should ever cross.
Gozi, Secretary General of the European Democratic Party and a member of the European Parliament, said Serbia’s decision to honor Mladić was particularly troubling given his conviction by international justice for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, including the Srebrenica genocide.
“State honors for a convicted war criminal are not remembrance, but glorification,” Gozi said in a written statement.
He argued that the decision by Serbian authorities to grant Mladić the highest honors amounts to the promotion of historical revisionism rather than an effort to confront the country’s past and advance reconciliation.
“By granting the highest honors, the authorities in Serbia, under President Aleksandar Vučić, are also promoting historical revisionism instead of accountability and reconciliation,” Gozi said.
According to the European Parliament member, the decision risks turning the glorification of those responsible for genocide into official state policy and moving Serbia further away from European values.
Gozi stressed that Serbia belongs in Europe but said its European future cannot be built on the rehabilitation of what he described as the darkest chapters of its past.
Instead, he said Serbia’s path toward the European Union must be based on truth, justice, democratic values and respect for victims.
The controversy follows growing criticism in Serbia and abroad over plans to honor Mladić, who died while serving a life sentence in The Hague. His legacy remains deeply contested, particularly over his role in the Bosnian war and the 1995 Srebrenica genocide.
