Bosnia’s Foreign Minister Elmedin Konakovic sent an open letter to the European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighborhood Oliver Varhelyi on May 17, 2024, regarding his statements about the UN Resolution on the Srebrenica genocide in which he said, among other things, that “stigmatizing the Serbian nation with collective guilt is not a viable choice” and that he “didn’t think that this contributes to get[ting] over the horrors of the Balkan wars.”

In the letter, Konakovic said that he learned from the media that Commissioner Varhelyi “publicly joined the shameful propaganda of the President of Serbia,” noting that he expected the Commissioner to have a “more responsible, serious, and humane attitude” towards the Resolution.

“The resolution is essentially aimed at building justice and lasting peace because that is what our region needs. It was written for the victims of the genocide because of the tragedy and horror they have endured, because of their right to that symbolic piece of belated justice. International courts have already convicted the perpetrators and those responsible for the genocide, awarding them a total of 1,500 years in prison,” Minister Konakovic wrote.

He emphasized that these facts are not a matter of politics but of global civilizational values and, above all, humanity.

“Disputing the right of genocide victims to have their own day of remembrance is not only wrong but also uncivilized,” Konakovic stressed. “It worries me when you insinuate the collective guilt of the entire people, in your public statements, by paraphrasing the words of Aleksandar Vucic. His invented conspiracy theories are designed to destabilize relations in the region and divert attention from the difficult issues that Serbia is currently facing.”

The BiH Foreign Minister then asked Varhelyi what are Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, Republika Srpska (RS) entity President Milorad Dodik, and he defending the Serb people from.

“From a resolution that doesn't mention them in a single word?,” Konakovic asked.

“The thesis that the adoption of the Resolution will destabilize the region can only be created by those who deny genocide, celebrate war criminals, and may have similar intentions in the future. It is precisely for these reasons that you should support this Resolution, as a European Commissioner, as a European, as a human being,” he concluded.

It must also be said that Commissioner Varhelyi never directly said the Resolution would prescribe collective guilt to Serbs or Serbia, and that his words were spoken in general terms.

Bosnia’s Foreign Ministry also decided not to continue the implementation of the Action Plan on the transfer of knowledge about the accession process to the European Union between the BiH Ministry and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary, which included the training of Bosnian diplomats, signed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Elmedin Konakovic, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary, Péter Szijjártó on March 6, 2024.