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EU warns Serbia: Mladic's funeral 'important test' for path to EU

2026-09-04 13:00:46Kosova&Bota SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

EU warns Serbia: Mladic's funeral 'important test' for path to EU

Senior EU officials have issued a warning to the Serbian government over the funeral of war criminal Ratko Mladic, with the bloc's enlargement chief saying it "will be a very important test" in Belgrade's bid to join the European Union and its future path.

Mladic died on August 27 at the age of 84 in a UN detention center in The Hague, where he was serving a life sentence for crimes against humanity related to the Srebrenica massacre and the siege of Sarajevo.

His body returned to Serbia on a government plane on Thursday, with his coffin carried by soldiers and draped in a Serbian flag, shown in images broadcast on television.

While Serbia's Justice Minister, Nenad Vujic, said last week that Mladic would be buried with state honors, President Aleksandar Vucic has since said that the family will decide on the funeral arrangements and no official plans have been confirmed.

According to Serbian media reports, a memorial ceremony may take place on Saturday, followed by a funeral in a Belgrade suburb on Monday.

Speaking to reporters in Dublin on Friday morning, EU enlargement chief Marta Kos said: “Bringing Ratko Mladic’s remains to Belgrade will be a very important test.”

“At the moment, a lot is happening in Serbia (…) and everything could have an impact on how member states are assessing Serbia.”

She added that the handling of Mladic's funeral would be considered in connection with Belgrade's alignment with the EU's foreign and security policy, a key condition for joining the bloc.

“A state funeral would be unacceptable,” Irish Minister for European Affairs and Defence Thomas Byrne told reporters on the sidelines of a ministerial meeting on Friday. “I understand that there is not actually a state funeral, but there may be senior figures from government who will be commemorating that man. That is not acceptable.”

“It is a step that distances Serbia from the EU’s fundamental values ​​of respect for human dignity, human rights and the fight against impunity – going in the opposite direction to what is expected of an EU candidate country,” Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot wrote in X.

The optics surrounding the funeral have escalated to the level of the head of state. At a press conference earlier this week, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković warned Serbia that giving the convicted war criminal the highest honors would be “the equivalent of closing the door to the European Union itself.”

Two EU officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Euronews that the plans for the funeral had caused concern at the heart of the EU executive in Brussels, which sees the future accession of Western Balkan countries as a strategic priority for the bloc.

Diplomatic sources told Euronews that the general atmosphere, as European Affairs Ministers gathered in Ireland for an informal meeting on Friday, was that a state funeral for Mladic or any commemoration by Serbian state officials would be completely unacceptable and would inevitably weaken support for the country's EU bid among member states.

“Anyone considering opening up Group 3 will think twice,” an EU diplomat told Euronews, asking not to be identified due to the sensitivity of the subject. “It seems highly unlikely that anyone would want to push for this now.”

Earlier this summer, a push by the European Commission to advance Serbia's accession by opening talks on competitiveness and growth, known as Group 3, hit a snag after member states raised concerns over controversial reforms to the judiciary.

The bloc also estimates that Belgrade's compliance with the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy is at 60%, the lowest of all potential candidates.


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