BELGRADE, Serbia — The European Union’s enlargement commissioner, Marta Kos, on Friday canceled an upcoming visit to candidate nation Serbia, citing Ratko Mladić glorification following the former Bosnian Serb commander’s death. Mladić, convicted of genocide by a United Nations tribunal, remains celebrated by many Serbs.
Mladić’s remains were flown from The Hague to Belgrade on a Serbian government aircraft on Thursday, one week after his death and days before his burial at a Belgrade cemetery.
Mladić received a life sentence in 2017 for directing the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys, the multi‑year siege of Sarajevo during the 1992–95 Bosnian war, and other crimes that included establishing detention camps for non‑Serb civilians and captured fighters.
Upon arrival in Belgrade, his coffin was draped with the national flag. Serbian soldiers carried it to a van bound for the military hospital. Justice Minister Nenad Vujic traveled on the flight alongside Mladić’s relatives, and nationalist supporters lit flares as the cortege moved through the city.
Kos wrote on X that the public veneration surrounding his death is incompatible with the values underpinning Serbia’s EU path. She added that Mladić’s return to Belgrade recalls some of Europe’s darkest recent chapters.
In Belgrade, regional broadcaster N1 quoted President Aleksandar Vučić describing Kos’s explanation as “very short but stupid.” He said she had not identified “who glorified anything,” adding that authorities could not prohibit people from attending or holding a funeral.
Earlier Friday, Kos said the coming days would be a significant test for Serbia as preparations continue for a burial that could draw large crowds.
Mladić to be buried Monday in Belgrade
Mladić’s son, Darko Mladić, told reporters that a military commemoration is planned for Saturday. On Monday morning, the coffin will be placed in a Belgrade church for the public to pay respects, followed by a funeral and burial later that day.
Vučić had previously said Mladić would receive full state honors, a position that sparked anger across the Balkans, where ethnic tensions endure decades after the 1992–95 conflict in Bosnia that killed more than 100,000 people and displaced millions.
In 2025, Serbia held a funeral with full military honors for convicted war criminal and former army chief of staff Nebojša Pavković at a cemetery dedicated to distinguished individuals.
Serbia, which supported Bosnian Serb forces during the war, is formally seeking EU membership. Officials in Belgrade often accuse Western governments of anti‑Serb bias regarding the conflict.
After Mladić’s death last week, thousands in the Serb entity in Bosnia and many in Serbia held vigils. Large numbers are expected at the funeral.
Other European officials condemn Mladić glorification
Michael O’Flaherty, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, on Friday urged authorities in Serbia and in Bosnia’s Serb‑run entity to counter the public celebration of convicted war criminals. He noted that such glorification is illegal in Bosnia and not protected under the European Convention on Human Rights.
“I abhor the public glorification of Ratko Mladić,” O’Flaherty said, calling attention to Mladić’s convictions for the Srebrenica genocide and crimes against humanity.
Belgium’s foreign minister, Maxime Prévot, said granting funeral honors for Mladić would be “shameful and disrespectful for the victims,” adding that he had relayed his condemnation to Serbia’s European affairs counterpart on Friday morning.
Political pressure is also mounting on the European People’s Party to sever ties with Vučić’s Serbian Progressive Party. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Parliament President Roberta Metsola are among the EPP’s senior figures.
Slovenian MEP Vladimir Prebilič urged the group to stop serving as a “safe haven” for Vučić’s party, accusing it of celebrating convicted war criminals and welcoming the “Butcher of Bosnia.”
Serbia’s president says he has meetings on Monday
In Serbia, Vučić, a former hard‑line nationalist who previously backed expansionist policies, said he has meetings scheduled for Monday and that funeral arrangements were made by the Mladić family.
“I have spoken to the Mladić family and I wish it all passes in a dignified way,” Vučić said, according to the pro‑government Informer television channel. He added that he had done all he could to ensure the funeral proceeds properly.
Serbia’s EU accession bid has stalled amid concerns over democratic backsliding and Belgrade’s refusal to align with international sanctions on Russia following the invasion of Ukraine.
The Srebrenica killings are recognized as Europe’s first genocide since World War II. The U.N.‑designated safe area for Bosniaks was overrun by Serb forces, who forced men and boys to strip, executed them, and buried them in mass graves.
Mladić was one of the most notorious figures of the Bosnian war, which left more than 100,000 dead and over a million people homeless before a U.S.‑brokered peace accord ended the conflict in 1995.