EU forgot 8372 genocide victims
Following the recent events surrounding the death of the convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić, the Serbian government has been greatly involved in preparing for the funeral of this convicted war criminal by exercising its powers at all steps, including the involvement of the military and the senior government officials.
He was convicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for committing genocide in Srebrenica, the most devastating war crime in Europe since the end of the Second World War. Despite the wishes of the majority of the population, his death was welcomed in Serbia as a death of a hero, somewhat unsurprisingly by the regime led by Vučić who believed that “for every one Serb killed, we should kill a hundred Bosniaks”. Sadly, this reality that nationalists had created in the Balkans has become a fact of everyday life for the people, that would easily dismiss this as just politics, this rhetoric of hate and violence is something that the EU spent millions of Euros combatting, with the aim of building a lasting peace in the region that is supposed to be on the European path.
Despite that, the European Union has mildly reacted to these events, following the trend of cozying up of the European Commission to the Serbian regime. Even though the Commissioner for Enlargement, Marta Kos, has cancelled her visit, Ursula von der Leyen shared an opinion about this situation. However, the Commission’s spokesperson downplayed the importance of the burial of a convicted war criminal, just by saying “there was a funeral foreseen with state honour, and that is not being the case, so I leave it to you to judge on our positioning on that matter”. The Commission’s spokesperson completely took away the attention from the devastating pictures coming from Belgrade of masses of people who came to the funeral, ignoring that the nationalistic policy of the Serbian government has been fueling hatred, enabling and supporting far-right sentiment in all pores of society, especially in media linked to the Serbian regime. These media have, for the past decade, been fueling hateful narratives against people of different identities, especially Bosniaks, Croatians, Albanians and many more. The European Commission seems to continue to ignore the essential problem – a massive funeral for a convicted war criminal shouldn’t be a bump in the road, because with policy fueling this sentiment, there shouldn’t be a road at all.
This is no longer just a regional issue. This is a European issue, in the age where we see the rise of fascists and nazis, in an era where we have yet another war on the European continent, where our security is being put into question, tThe Serbian Progressive Party is still an associate member party of the EPP. It is giving him the political legitimacy and support to repress the citizens of Serbia, and to sow hate across the entire region by turning a blind eye to war criminals, and downplaying victims’ experiences and their suffering.
We demand action from the EU which must openly condemn the recent events without downplaying the importance this will have on the region and Europe as a whole, must provide meaningful support for the victims and accountability from those who are organizing state capture, the EU must stop financing those who do not share European values.
As leftists who are fighting nationalism across Europe, we will always stand with the victims. Lets not forget, a genocide is a genocide, a war criminal is a war criminal.
Da se ne zaboravi. 8372.
Cooperation and Development Network Eastern Europe (CDN)
Young European Greens (FYEG)
Green Youth of Serbia (ZOS)
Youth Movement “Revolt”, Tuzla (Revolt)
