Mladic, justice and 2011: view from Serbia
On the 31st of May 2011,
a jet carrying general Ratko Mladic took off from Belgrade.
Its destination: The Hague.
The journey was the start of justice
for victims of Mladic’s alleged war crimes.
It was also the beginning of a new journey for Serbia,
which had seen its reintegration into international community and the EU
blocked until the last of the war crimes’ suspects were handed over.
What had been demanded of Serbia, was now delivered by Serbia.
So where does the country go from here?
We asked Serb politicians
how they believed the events of May 2011 affected their country.
We started by asking:
Why had Mladic been arrested at that moment?
We have not arrested Mladic for political gain,
neither did we calculate as to whether it would harm us politically.
It was a legal and international obligation for Serbia.
It was our moral obligation for innocent Bosniak victims
and a way for democratic Serbia to say that we do not condone,
that we condemn those heinous crimes.
But also at the same time to say
that a culprit cannot be an entire people, that guilt has a name.
And therefore, general Mladic now has to answer for the accusations
where it should be, in The Hague.
Arrest is a necessary, but not a sufficient condition.
And I think what is important for the future of Bosnia-Herzegovina
is indeed to recognise that it is made up by three communities
and that any changes requires an agreement
between those three communities. Serbia will support no action
that could lead to a break-up of the country.
A new horizon is dawning for Serbia, but it is a country
where the average age is relatively high at 40 years old.
Could the large numbers of people with fresh memories of the war
hold back the country’s advance?
Serbia is a country where the traditionalist view prevails
and the slightly higher average age may not work in its favour.
In any case, we politicians are trying to explain to citizens
what importance EU accession has for their daily lives.
Of course younger people cooperate
with colleagues from European countries. They travel more,
especially since the introduction of a visa-free regime for Serbia.
We politicians need to explain to people, regardless of their age,
how we see the future.
Offer them a better future and get their support.
The average age may be slowing us down.
Some of the people lived through the years of war
and might find it a bit more difficult to forget it.
The new generation, who are now of age,
do not know about it and they are the future.
But 2011 has not been all about Mladic’s arrest for Serbia.
Its other developments could prove as important
with advancing the country’s future,
as Mladic’s arrest is important for its past.
There have been all kinds of events in 2011, good and bad.
We will be opening the first Fiat factory in Serbia,
the first car factory in Europe in five years.
We’ll get 3 billion dollar for a direct investment,
we rounded up our collaboration with The Hague
and as the EC demonstrates, we have had a very strong reform.
We congratulate Serbia and Croatia
for the programmes in their bilateral relations.
Your position on Bosnia-Herzegovina
and the parliamentary resolution you passed on Srebrenica
is also a vital element of stability in the Balkans.
We should forget the ugly part of our recent past that divides us.
We should build bridges of friendship and cooperation instead.
As for our common future in the EU, it will certainly be better
than if we were to stay outside the EU,
separated and with continued mistrust dividing us.
Above all we will not have any borders.
Then there will be a free flow of goods, capital, people and ideas.
People will be meeting to a much greater extent than today.
And when ideas and people meet, it results in new, better ideas.
One more benefit: Serbia has the largest population in the region
and the best assets to be a leader
in both the process of Euro-Atlantic integration,
and later, once we are all members of the EU
and hopefully at some point of NATO as well.
And finally, 2011 could prove the year when Serbia starts to retake
its position as the powerhouse of the Western Balkans,
with the rest of the Western Balkans supporting it.
The year when its position is no longer seen as pointing east or west,
but simply as part of an emerging region of Europe.
80% of investments to Serbia come from the European Union.
70% of our banking assets are from the eurozone.
We are open to investments from China.
There have been constant attempts to kind of stereotype Serbia:
east - west. Like every country in Europe
we are looking for diversification to overcome this crisis.
The point is that we should trust one and other.
Leave the ugly past behind us and share what was nice in our past.
We should build our common future
on the basis of those nice things in our past
in order to finally become Europeans and stop being only Balkan people.