Facing the past is a requirement for creating a better future, European Parliamentarian Tanja Fajon said on Wednesday, commenting on an amendment to a European Parliament Resolution on Serbia which asked the country to admit that a genocide was committed in Srebrenica, Bosnia, in 1995.
The amendment was proposed by her EP colleague from Slovenia, Igor Soltes, and it says that Serbia has to accept that the systematic killing of more than 8,000 men and boys in the eastern Bosnian town was a genocide, as international courts have ruled.
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Genocide denial “is burdening all generations,” Slovenian EP member Fajon said.
“We need to be able to face reality. With facing the past, we will create a better future,” she said.
The EP MP called upon politicians in the Western Balkans to begin implementing reforms and pointed out that the EU told Kosovo that its decision to raise taxes on goods imported from Bosnia and Serbia is damaging businesses.
The biggest problem in Bosnia is corruption, she told N1.
“We in the European Parliament feel that Bosnia and Herzegovina is the slowest country in the region. It has a lot of open issues,” she said.
She also touched upon Bosnia’s path toward NATO.
“I remember when we had that issue of NATO in Slovenia, and we had a referendum. In the end, citizens were less enthusiastic about it,” she said. “Still, Slovenia became a member of the European Union and NATO, which is important for stability.”
She said she is concerned about the threat to media freedom in Western Balkan countries.
“We need each other more than ever because of the many challenges we are facing now,” she said.
