BRUSSELS (AP) — EU officials say they will warn Serbia’s new president to tone down his nationalist statements if he wishes to see his nation progress toward membership in the bloc.
President Tomislav Nikolic, who is in Brussels for the first time since the election, has questioned whether the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, during which Bosnian Serb forces killed some 8,000 Muslims, constitutes genocide.
He also angered neighboring Croatia with claims that Vukovar, a Croatian town destroyed by Serb forces in 1991 during Croatia’s war for independence, is a Serbian city.
Two officials said that EU leaders will also urge him to quickly form a government that would resume talks on normalizing ties with Kosovo. They spoke on condition of anonymity in line with standing rules.
