Ratko Mladić

Bosnian Serb nationalist leader Milorad Dodik's party won over 55 percent in regional elections, securing his political dominance and undermining the country's stalled European Union membership prospects amid anti-EU campaign messaging and geopolitical realignment.

The EU has provided Serbia 1.5 billion euros annually since 2012 and opened 22 accession chapters, yet Serbia's mourning of Srebrenica genocide perpetrator Ratko Mladić revealed persistent nationalism incompatible with European Union membership values.

Convicted war criminal Ratko Mladić received military honors at his Belgrade funeral, drawing thousands and EU condemnation, threatening Serbia's EU candidacy already strained by democratic backsliding and refusal to sanction Russia.