Brussels, 09/07/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament paid tribute to the victims of the Srebrenica massacre on Thursday 9 July, during a debate in which the European Commission reiterated the importance of maintaining the outlook of EU accession for the Balkans countries that are not yet members of the EU.
“We have the moral obligation of not forgetting what happened”, said European Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Society Günther Oettinger. He called for the trials to be continued of the perpetrators of the crimes, and for the adoption of measures for the “reconciliation of present and future generations”. “One of the lessons of the Balkans War is to commit to the reconstruction and future of these countries within the European Union”, he said.
In July 1995, over 8,300 Bosnian men and teenage boys of Muslim faith were massacred by units of the Army of the Serb Republic of Bosnia, under the command of General Ratko Mladic, in the region of Srebrenica in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The town of Srebrenica had nevertheless been declared a safety zone by the United Nations. Around 500 Dutch UN peacekeepers were present in the region at the time of the worst killing carried out in Europe since the Second World War.
Serbia's Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic has said that he will visit Srebrenica this Saturday 11 July to take part in the ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of the massacre.
Russian veto. Oettinger also regretted that on Wednesday 8 July, Russia vetoed a draft UN resolution tabled by the UK, which condemned “the crime of genocide committed in Srebrenica”. In Moscow's opinion, the text accused the Bosnian Serbs unfairly and the description of genocide was inappropriate. (Mathieu Bion)