Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić was not invited to the Bled Strategic Forum in Slovenia, despite reportedly seeking an invitation, according to Slovenia’s foreign ministry. Instead, Belgrade’s delegation was led by Foreign Minister Marko Đurić, who took part in the gathering of European policymakers and regional leaders.
For Vučić, the absence from Bled comes at a politically delicate time. Student-led protests at home have morphed into wider anti-government demonstrations, and European diplomats are watching closely how his government responds. Against that backdrop, being excluded from the Slovenian stage highlighted the cooling of his access to key EU forums.
Vučić has publicly disputed that account. Speaking in Beijing, where he attended China’s military parade marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, he insisted that Serbian Prime Minister Đuro Macut was invited to Bled but deliberately stayed away, dismissing the forum as dominated by “blockaders” — his shorthand for domestic opposition figures he accuses of trying to topple his government.
The Serbian leader sought to draw a contrast between the Bled forum and his own high-profile meetings in Beijing. Vučić emphasized that while Bled offered conversations with regional counterparts, China gave him face time with presidents Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, and other global figures. Comparing the two, he said, was like comparing “the Premier League to a local amateur zone.”
The episode underscores Vučić’s increasingly precarious balancing act between Serbia’s EU aspirations and its reliance on ties with China and Russia. Just two weeks earlier, he had written to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen defending his government’s handling of protests and warning that violence and disinformation by opposition groups risked destabilizing not only Serbia but the wider Western Balkans.
Yet in Beijing, his rhetoric turned ironic. He suggested Europe should follow his lead and come more often to China, dismissing criticism of his outreach to Beijing as irrelevant. “No one in the EU can reproach me for talking to my Chinese friends,” he said.
The contrast illustrates both Vučić’s tactical pragmatism and his growing frustration with Brussels. By leaning into global forums like Beijing, he signals that Serbia has alternatives to European stages. But by being left out of Bled, he is reminded that access to the EU’s inner circles is not guaranteed.
For now, Vučić seems intent on projecting strength abroad and defiance at home. Whether that posture reassures his domestic audience or further complicates Serbia’s European path remains an open question.