Croatian political analyst Davor Đenero, commenting on the length of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić’s visit to China, assessed that it was “a manoeuvre that has exclusively domestic political significance”.
“It is directly linked to the students’ triumph at Slavija, which was only slightly shaken by the unnecessary clash with the police outside the Serbian Parliament building. It is essentially an attempt to avoid confronting the real political situation in Serbia,” the N1 interviewee pointed out.
Davor Đenero stated that it is entirely clear that “Serbia has no defined foreign policy” and that there are no clear priorities.
Asked whether Vučić’s visit to China would pose a problem for Serbia’s relationship with the European Union, Đenero said that if Vučić’s policy were seriously committed to European integration, then it would be “highly damaging, whereas in its current form it is merely anachronistic”.
“In the 1950s, leaders used to go on visits of such length. I have not heard of statesmen today making visits that last this long, nor have I heard of a president in a parliamentary democracy taking part in shaping economic policy and international economic relations at the level Vučić does, while at the same time the formal office-holder – the prime minister – is absent from the process,” Đenero said on the programme N1 Direktno.
“A very risky policy that has lost all support except the Chinese one”
Speaking about Vučić’s relations with the administration of US President Donald Trump, Đenero stressed that Vučić has no institutional relations with that administration.
“You know how disastrously that Florida episode ended for him. Since then, there has not been a single relevant meeting. Foreign Minister Marko Đurić made a small attempt to improve relations with America, but it was practically negligible. He (Aleksandar Vučić, editor’s note) does not have good relations with (Russian President Vladimir) Putin either. That can be seen from the way Russia is supposedly trying to sell NIS, while in reality it does not want to sell it and is not even considering for a moment transferring part or all of the ownership to Serbia,” Đenero said.
Đenero also stressed that Vučić does not have good relations with the European Union either.
“He has now even started openly antagonising the European Commissioner for Enlargement, who is currently the most important EU official when it comes to Serbia, and she is an extremely well-prepared person.
It is a very risky policy which, as our interviewee pointed out, has lost all support except the Chinese one.
“And the Chinese support has been built exclusively on China’s economic interests. It is highly questionable how many unnecessary costs Serbia is incurring through its desperate participation in the Belt and Road Initiative, and how much actual benefit it is gaining from it,” he said.
“Vučić is going to the EU-Western Balkans Summit in Tivat as a backbencher”
Commenting on Vučić’s announced attendance at the European Union–Western Balkans Summit in Tivat at the beginning of June, Đenero assessed that Vučić would be “going there as a backbencher”.
“That backbench status is evident from the fact that Serbia has not opened a single negotiation cluster in the accession process for years. It is also evident because it is very important to point out that EU funds from the Growth Plan Programme have not been frozen, but Serbia cannot access them because it has failed to fulfil its obligations… So Vučić is going there as a participant who is failing to meet obligations and make progress, while he is being welcomed in a country that is currently on the rise,” Đenero concluded.
(N1, 29.05.2026)