By Bosphorus News Geopolitics Desk
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said on September 11 that he would resign on September 25 or 26, immediately after returning from the UN General Assembly in New York. He said he would then campaign for the October 25 parliamentary election as an ordinary citizen.
Vučić said the law did not require him to step down and cautioned that the date was not fixed. He dissolved the National Assembly on September 9 on the government's proposal and called the snap vote. The Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), which he founded, has named him to head its "United Serbia" list, and he said he did not want to campaign for prime minister while serving as president. His second and final presidential term was due to end in 2027.
The announcement came four days after Ratko Mladić was buried in Belgrade with military honours. The wartime commander of the Bosnian Serb army, convicted in 2017 of genocide in Srebrenica, crimes against humanity and war crimes, died on August 27 at 84 in UN detention in The Hague while serving a life sentence. His body was flown to Belgrade on a government aircraft. Patriarch Porfirije of the Serbian Orthodox Church led the service, soldiers carried the coffin and several ministers attended. Vučić did not attend, but his son Danilo did.
Justice Minister Nenad Vujić, who stood with the family, said the authorities had only helped keep order and that the family was in charge. Vučić called the funeral an emotional outpouring.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President António Costa called the images from the funeral shocking in identical statements on September 8. They said the official support and the presence of senior Serbian officials contradicted the values underpinning Serbia's path to the European Union. Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos had cancelled a planned visit to Serbia on September 4. Bosnia and Herzegovina's Foreign Minister Elmedin Konaković said he was recalling most embassy staff from Belgrade, leaving the ambassador and consul in place, and expelled two Serbian diplomats, a military attaché and an adviser linked to the intelligence service.
Türkiye's Foreign Ministry said exploiting the funeral in a way that amounted to denial of the crimes committed and the suffering endured was "unacceptable." In a September 8 statement answering a question on the funeral, spokesperson Öncü Keçeli said rejecting the tribunals' rulings or glorifying convicted perpetrators deepened the suffering of victims and their families and undermined years of work toward peace and reconciliation in the region. The statement commemorated those killed in the Bosnian War, in particular the victims of the Srebrenica genocide.
The Commission recommended in July that member states open Cluster 3 in Serbia's accession talks, a step some of them opposed. It is due to publish its annual assessment of candidate countries in the coming weeks, while Serbia's campaign is under way. As of September 8, Brussels had not said how the funeral would affect Serbia's accession bid.
Sources: Tanjug, Danas, Associated Press, Al Jazeera, ANSA, Euronews, European Western Balkans, Türkiye's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bosphorus News review and reporting.