1. The European Union stands in solidarity with all victims, survivors and their families who suffered from war crimes in countries of former Yugoslavia.
2. Ratko Mladić was a convicted war criminal, responsible for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. He died while serving a life sentence for the Srebrenica genocide and other crimes, imposed by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in 2017.
3. Any glorification of war criminals, genocide denial and revisionism contradict the most fundamental European values and have no place in the EU or in EU candidate countries. Reconciliation and good neighbourly relations in the Western Balkans remain central to building a common future.
4. In the 2018 Joint Declaration on War Crimes in the Framework of the Berlin Process, the governments of the Western Balkans committed to respecting verdicts from international and domestic courts relating to war crimes, rejecting the use of hate speech and the glorification of war criminals and to promoting a culture of respect for and solidarity with all victims.
5. At the same time, any such glorification constitutes an affront to the memory of victims and survivors.
6. The EU reaffirms its support to all Western Balkan partners in their efforts to foster reconciliation and regional stability, as well as to find and to implement definitive and inclusive solutions to our partners’ regional and bilateral disputes and issues rooted in the legacy of the past, in line with international law.