Marta Kos cancels Serbia visit over Mladic honours

EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos has cancelled a planned visit to Serbia over what she called the “glorification” of convicted Bosnian Serb war criminal Ratko Mladic after his body was received with military honours in Belgrade.

“Ratko Mladic was convicted of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. The return of his remains to Belgrade reminds Europe of the darkest pages in our recent history,” Kos wrote online.

“The glorification surrounding his death is incompatible with the values on which the EU path is built,” she said. “In this context, I have decided not to proceed with my planned visit to Serbia at this time.”

Mladic died last week while serving a life sentence for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war. His casket, draped in the Serbian flag, was greeted on Thursday by soldiers, his son and Serbia's justice minister after it was flown to Belgrade.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said the state would provide “every kind of logistical and transport support” and that he expected tens of thousands of people to gather for the funeral.

Kos had already criticised plans by Serbia, a candidate to join the EU, to bury Mladic with state honours. The Council of Europe said the “glorification of war criminal Ratko Mladic is unlawful and an affront to victims.”

Mladic was convicted over atrocities committed during Bosnia's war, which killed around 100,000 people and forced 2.2 million from their homes, including his role in the Srebrenica massacre.