The European Union issued a warning to candidate countries to the bloc that the glorification of war criminals is inadmissible in the accession process. This position comes at a time when funeral ceremonies for Ratko Mladic are taking place in Serbia.
Ratko Mladic was a Bosnian-Serb military commander who led Serbian forces during the war in Bosnia. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia convicted him in 2011 to life imprisonment for genocide and crimes against humanity, including the Srebrenica massacre.
Serbian authorities decided to hold a state funeral for Mladic, which provoked international criticism. The event took place in Serbia, a country that is a candidate for accession to the European Union.
The EU thus left a clear warning to Serbia that the veneration of people convicted of war crimes may compromise its path to European integration.
