EU: Mladic's funeral was not with state honors

On the day of the funeral of criminal Ratko Mladic, the European Union has reiterated its calls for no glorification of war criminals and denial of genocide, but for everyone to focus on honoring the victims and on reconciliation in the region. 

But in the European Commission's reaction, what was surprising was the assertion that they do not see this burial as a funeral with state honors. This was stated by Paula Pinho, spokesperson for the European Commission. 

"Our position is very clear. There is no place for glorifying war criminals or those who deny genocide, or those who contradict the most fundamental European values. The fact is that we had heard that a funeral with state honors was planned and that did not happen. So, I leave it to you to judge the importance of our position on this issue," said spokeswoman Pinho. 

Journalists insisted at the press conference on Monday that it be clarified how they came to the conclusion that this was not a funeral with state honors when the honors were performed by the state army, whose commander is the president of the state, and government ministers were also present. Journalists were also asked whether there will be consequences for this behavior of Serbia. But the answer was very vague.

"As I said, we have made our position very, very clear to the Serbian authorities. What the next steps will be, and if there will be any, we will see," she said. 

Unofficially, the EU has said that in recent days' contacts with Serbian officials it has been made clear to them that there will be consequences for their behavior towards the criminal Mladić, but they did not say what the consequences will be. Among them is the possibility of canceling the visit of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to Serbia next month, when she is scheduled to tour the countries of the region.