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Published: 05 November 2010 Updated: 08 November 2010
Enlargement Commissioner Štefan Füle today (5 November) welcomed Serbian President Boris Tadić’s apology for crimes committed at Vukovar, a Croatian town devastated during the country's war of independence in the early 1990s.
Yesterday (4 November), Tadić joined his Croat colleague Ivo Josipović at the Ovčara memorial site near Vukovar.
There, he apologised to the families of all innocent victims who were killed in 1991, reported Serb news agency BETA, EurActiv's partner in Serbia.
"I came to honour the victims, deliver words of apology and express regret, so that we can create the possibility for Serbs and Croats, Serbia and Croatia, to build a better future," Tadić said at the memorial site, after laying wreaths.
"By honouring the victims, we are thinking of the future of our children and the future of the children who are yet to be born," Tadić added.
He assessed that by recognising the crimes, apologising and expressing regret, possibilities were being created for forgiveness and reconciliation.
"When our peoples reconcile, a new future will be opened. And everything that has happened between the Serbs and the Croats in the 20th century should be closed in the book of the past," Tadić said.
Croatian President Ivo Josipović said Ovčara was a place of pain and suffering for people who were victims of mindless politics.
"We promise that no crime will be left unpunished, because we are aware of the responsibility for the future of our peoples and states," said Josipović.
Tadić and Josipović advocated the building of good neighborly relations and of a politics that would be the complete reverse of that conducted during the 1990s.
Enlargement Commissioner Štefan Füle welcomed the bold reconciliation gesture in a statement.
"The fresh impetus that has been given to Croatia-Serbia bilateral relations by such high-level events could help to solve the outstanding bilateral issues in a true European spirit. Both Croatia and Serbia's future lie in the European Union, a Union where reconciliation is one of the founding features," Füle said.
Last July, Tadić surprised many observers by attending a ceremony marking the 15th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide in Bosnia, where thousands of Muslims were massacred by Serbs back in 1995.
In contrast with the dignified atmosphere in Vukovar, Tadić received a frosty reception in Srebrenica, with many ethnic Muslims booing him and calling him a "monkey" and a "murderer".
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Background
Croatia fought for its independence from the former Yugoslavia in a war which lasted from 1991 to 1995. Atrocities were committed by both sides during the fratricidal conflict.
Serbia filed a lawsuit for genocide against Croatia at the International Court of Justice on 4 January, a move seen as a response to an earlier lawsuit by Croatia. Serbs' claims of genocide refer to Operation Storm in 1995, while Croatia's accusations are instead linked to Slobodan Milosevic's ethnic cleansing.
In the immediate aftermath of the Croatian presidential elections, held on 10 January, the newly-elected president, Ivo Josipović, foresaw a potential halt to the legal war between Croatia and Serbia at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague regarding genocide accusations.
Last July, Josipović paid his first official visit to Serbia. Together with Serbian President Boris Tadić, he agreed that the two countries had no reason to "look back at the past".
Croatia fought for its independence from the former Yugoslavia in a war which lasted from 1991 to 1995. Atrocities were committed by both sides during the fratricidal conflict.
Serbia filed a lawsuit for genocide against Croatia at the International Court of Justice on 4 January, a move seen as a response to an earlier lawsuit by Croatia. Serbs' claims of genocide refer to Operation Storm in 1995, while Croatia's accusations are instead linked to Slobodan Milosevic's ethnic cleansing.
In the immediate aftermath of the Croatian presidential elections, held on 10 January, the newly-elected president, Ivo Josipović, foresaw a potential halt to the legal war between Croatia and Serbia at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague regarding genocide accusations.
Last July, Josipović paid his first official visit to Serbia. Together with Serbian President Boris Tadić, he agreed that the two countries had no reason to "look back at the past".
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