From Beijing, where he attended the military parade marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić did not miss the chance to mock the proceedings of the Bled Strategic Forum in Slovenia.
At the forum, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković warned that Serbia was heading toward civil war. In response, Vučić claimed that the Croatian leader was damaging Belgrade’s international image.
He went further, describing the summit — which also included Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama — as a gathering of “minor leagues,” especially when compared with the high-level meetings he had in Beijing with Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and Robert Fico.
“I didn’t go to Bled. Macut was invited, and wisely, rightly, he didn’t go. They invited the blockers to Bled — let them talk with them. Compare the conversations with Plenković, and I don’t know who else, with the meetings with Xi, Putin, Fico… It’s like comparing the Premier League with the Belgrade League. If you convince me that the other league is at a higher level, I have no problem with that. If I had gone to Bled, they would have said I shouldn’t have come here,” Vučić said sarcastically.
The Serbian president added that “if Putin had said something negative, it would have been Europe’s top news story.”
“What matters to me is Serbia and Serbia’s interests. Nothing else. That’s what they can’t understand. They know they are only interested in money. For days, they argue about who has the money, who replaces whom… I think it’s important to focus on how Serbia will secure gas, electricity, how Serbia will use artificial intelligence, so we don’t miss another revolution after being left behind in the past. My job is to protect the country, to care about how the people will live. I can’t waste my time on nonsense,” Vučić emphasized.
