MA70 🇷🇸🇦🇺

🇷🇸🇪🇺Serbia does not ask for special treatment. Only equal treatment. The strength of the EU’s reaction to recent events in Serbia raises an obvious question: are the same standards applied consistently across the region? A few past examples are worth recalling: 17 October 2025, Tirana, Albania: Thousands gathered in support of Hashim Thaçi and 3 other former KLA leaders standing trial for war crimes and crimes against humanity. President Begaj, PM Rama, and senior ministers publicly supported the demonstration, while authorities suspended motorway tolls to facilitate attendance. No official EU institutional reaction or measures against Albania followed. 5 July 2025, Zagreb, Croatia: Approximately half a million people attended a concert by Marko Perković Thompson, at which the Ustaša-era salute “Za dom spremni” was chanted and Ustaša-related symbols were displayed. Speaker of Parliament Gordan Jandroković and government ministers attended, while PM Plenković visited the rehearsal and later praised the event. The European Commission gave only a general condemnation of fascism and referred the matter to national authorities. No measures against Croatia followed. 2021-2022, Croatia: Croatian authorities repeatedly declined or prevented attempts by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić to visit the Jasenovac Memorial Site and pay tribute to its victims. No official EU institutional reaction or measures against Croatia followed. 30 November 2017, Croatia: The Croatian Parliament observed a minute of silence following the death of Slobodan Praljak, whose convictions and 20-year sentence for war crimes and crimes against humanity had been upheld by the ICTY the previous day. Speaker Gordan Jandroković said parliamentary groups considered the final judgment “unjust and unacceptable”. No official EU institutional reaction or measures against Croatia followed. 11 July 2015, Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina: Aleksandar Vučić, then PM of Serbia, was attacked while attending the commemoration to pay tribute to the victims and convey a message of reconciliation. Although the EU condemned the attack and called for a full investigation, more than 11 years later no one has been indicted, prosecuted or held accountable, and no sustained EU institutional follow-up has been identified. 19 April 2010, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina: Rasim Delić, the former Commander of the Main Staff of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, had been sentenced by the ICTY for failing to prevent or punish the cruel treatment of captured Bosnian Serb soldiers by the El Mujahed Detachment. He received an official commemoration and the highest military honours, attended by senior state, parliamentary and military representatives. Chairman of the Presidency Haris Silajdžić and Defence Minister Selmo Cikotić delivered speeches honouring him. No official EU institutional reaction or measures followed. 24 July 2008, Zagreb, Croatia: Dinko Šakić, a former commander of the Jasenovac concentration camp sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment for war crimes against civilians, was cremated in a full Ustaša uniform. Catholic priest Vjekoslav Lasić publicly glorified Šakić and the Ustaša-controlled NDH. Croatia was then conducting EU accession negotiations, yet no official EU institutional reaction or measure affecting the accession process followed. None of these examples elicited a response the scale of which is now being seen against Serbia. If reconciliation is our common objective, selective condemnation and disproportionate political consequences cannot bring us closer to it.