{"id":21666,"date":"2026-09-10T12:32:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-10T10:32:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/?p=21666"},"modified":"2026-09-10T12:32:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T10:32:19","slug":"verheerlijking-van-het-verleden-hoe-mladic-begrafenis-een-campagnestunt-is-voor-vucic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/verheerlijking-van-het-verleden-hoe-mladic-begrafenis-een-campagnestunt-is-voor-vucic\/","title":{"rendered":"Glorifying the past: how Mladi\u0107\u2019s funeral is a campaign stunt for Vu\u010di\u0107"},"content":{"rendered":"

On 27 August, Ratko Mladi\u0107 died whilst serving a life sentence at the UN detention centre in The Hague. The Serbian general, also known as the \u2018Butcher of Bosnia\u2019, was responsible for the worst massacre in Europe since the Second World War and was convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. When news of his death broke, the most striking \u2013 though not surprising \u2013 reaction came from his home country, Serbia.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A revisionist heroic narrative as a campaign tool<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Serbian Minister of Justice, Vuji\u0107, was quick to state that<\/span>\u00a0Mladi\u0107 would be accorded all the state and military honours he deserves<\/span><\/a>. A section of the Serbian population still regards Mladi\u0107 as a hero who defended the Serbs in times of war. President Vu\u010di\u0107 responded more cautiously, stating that the government is in close contact with Mladi\u0107\u2019s family and that their wishes are paramount.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On the one hand, President Vu\u010di\u0107 wants to keep his ultra-nationalist supporters happy by using the death of the general, who was loved by many, as a grand occasion for honour and glorification, particularly with a view to the upcoming elections. On the other hand, he realises that relations with the European Union will only deteriorate if a war criminal guilty of genocide is honoured, which will further complicate the already stalled EU accession process.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On Monday, we saw Vu\u010di\u0107\u2019s feeble attempt at a compromise: no official state funeral, but a military funeral with soldiers, medals and a ceremonial gun salute. Although Vu\u010di\u0107 himself was not present, senior government officials, including Vuji\u0107, were in attendance. This comes as no surprise, however, given that Mladi\u0107\u2019s body was flown in on a government aircraft and welcomed in a coffin draped in the national flag, all broadcast on the state-backed channel Informer. The so-called \u2019non-state funeral\u2018 makes it painfully clear how the glorification of Serbia\u2019s horrific past is deeply ingrained in the ultra-nationalist government.\u00a0Vu\u010di\u0107 capitalised on the media attention on the day of the funeral and announced that the snap elections are likely to take place on 25 October.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In short, the funeral was a state funeral in every respect, except for the name. An EU spokesperson, however, claimed that\u00a0<\/span>Mladic was buried without state honours, which drew a great deal of criticism<\/span><\/a>. It shows that the EU is still struggling to take action against Serbia\u2019s increasing glorification of past atrocities.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Critical voices from Serbia<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The social-democratic opposition party, the SSP, responded to Mladi\u0107\u2019s death by saying that\u00a0<\/span>No one who has committed such war crimes should be a role model for future generations<\/span><\/a>. The party is calling on the region to face up to the past and pay tribute to the victims. Another opposition party, the ZLF, says that\u00a0<\/span>death does not put an end to responsibility for the war crimes committed, and calls on the government to prevent any glorification of Mladic<\/span><\/a>. The Serbian civil society organisation Academy for Democratic Development (ADD) condemned the government\u2019s glorification of genocide\u00a0<\/span>\u2018scandalous and shameful\u2019<\/span><\/a>\u2019. According to the organisation, Vu\u010di\u0107\u2019s regime is proud of that past and \u2018is actively building its political platform on it\u2019.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Few other opposition parties or civil society organisations spoke out about the de facto state funeral. In recent years, the government has shifted from denying the genocide to openly celebrating and glorifying the past. The narrative is often that those convicted of war crimes were heroes who defended the Serbs, rather than being the aggressors. Oppressed by fear and years of propaganda in the education system and the state-controlled media, it has now become dangerous for Serbian journalists and civil society organisations to raise critical voices.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Actions speak louder than words<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The EU must see the hero\u2019s funeral for what it really is: an opportunistic attempt to stoke nationalism during an election campaign. Although Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos has cancelled her trip to Serbia this coming Friday and condemned the glorification as \u2018incompatible with the values on which the EU\u2019s path is built\u2019, further action must be taken. The S&D calls on the EU to\u00a0<\/span>to put an end to the reconciliation and hold Vu\u010di\u0107 to account<\/span><\/a>. The Greens\/EFA\u00a0<\/span>condemn the glorification of convicted war criminals and call on the EPP to join Vu\u010di\u0107\u2019s SNS party<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Just like Enlargement Commissioner Kos, von der Leyen must not visit Serbia during her forthcoming trip to the Balkans. Particularly during the election campaign, it is crucial that Vu\u010di\u0107 is not given any opportunities to speak to the press that might serve to gloss over human rights violations.\u00a0Vu\u010di\u0107 is prepared to patiently follow the path to EU accession, whilst awaiting more nationalist-conservative allies amongst the EU Member States,\u00a0such as France and Germany. Strongly worded condemnations are not enough; the EU must take action.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Until justice is done for the bereaved and reconciliation with the region is achieved, Serbia has no place in the European community founded on democratic values.\u00a0We must face up to the atrocities of the past and show respect for the victims, in cooperation with the other former Yugoslav countries in the region. It is up to the new generation \u2013 such as the protesting students \u2013 to build a democratic and free Serbia that is prepared to learn from the past. The EU has a responsibility to support democratic movements and thereby rebuild civil society in Serbia.<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Op 27 augustus stierf Ratko Mladi\u0107 terwijl hij een levenslange gevangenisstraf uitzat in het VN-detentiecentrum in Den Haag. De Servische generaal, ook wel bekend als de \u2018slager van Bosni\u00eb\u2019, was verantwoordelijk voor het ergste bloedbad in Europa sinds de Tweede Wereldoorlog en werd door het Internationaal Strafhof veroordeeld wegens genocide, oorlogsmisdaden en misdaden tegen de […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":21677,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-democracy","location-servie","region-eu","region-zuidoost-europa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21666"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21666\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21679,"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21666\/revisions\/21679"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foundationmaxvanderstoel.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}