Djilas and Brnabic Clash Online Over Vucic in Georgia

A political quarrel that usually plays out behind closed doors moved onto X this evening, and it did so while President Aleksandar Vucic was on the second day of his visit to Georgia. The trigger was Vucic’s proposal to gather European Union membership candidates from that very country. Dragan Djilas, leader of the Party of Freedom and Justice, reacted first, and the reply came from Ana Brnabic, Speaker of the National Assembly. Within hours the exchange had grown into one of the week’s sharper political spats.

Djilas argued that Vucic had outdone himself with this move. In his view, the problem is that an initiative on the European path is being launched from Georgia, a country whose accession talks with Brussels are effectively frozen. To support his claim that Serbia is falling behind, Djilas noted that Moldova and Ukraine will open new negotiating clusters in July, while Albania has been able to close chapters since May 26. The message was clear: while others move forward, Serbia, the opposition leader says, is standing still.

What exactly did one side say to the other?

The response from the governing party’s leadership did not take long. On X, Ana Brnabic addressed Djilas with words that quickly became a talking point. “Mr Djilas, breathe deeply and do not hyperventilate over every success of Serbia,” the Speaker wrote. She also accused the opposition of discouraging people from attending the specialised exhibition EXPO 2027, a project the government presents as one of its flagship undertakings.

Djilas hit back without hesitation. “You have got it all mixed up, I built bridges, you tear them down,” he told Brnabic, trying to steer the argument back to concrete results. To bolster his position, he cited the figure that Serbia’s gross domestic product rose from 8.3 to 35.4 billion euros between 2000 and 2012, a period in which Djilas himself was part of the government of the day. With that, a dispute that began over foreign policy and the European path slid onto the familiar dividing line between government and opposition: who deserves credit for economic results, and who for the setbacks.

Why did an ordinary post turn into a clash?

At first glance, this was a routine exchange on social media. Yet the context gives it weight. The quarrel unfolded while Vucic was abroad, so every message gained added visibility. For the government, Vucic’s initiative from Georgia is proof of active diplomacy and regional leadership. For the opposition, that same initiative is a reason to ask how close Serbia really is to the European Union and whether the pace of talks is satisfactory.

What sets this episode apart is the tone. Instead of statements and press conferences, the two sides communicated directly, in short messages, in full public view. Brnabic took the position that the state’s successes must not become a target of political contestation. Djilas took the position that every success should be measured by results rather than announcements. Neither side backed down, so the argument remained open, with no winner and no common ground.

One question is likely to keep returning in the days ahead: do such direct exchanges on social media move political dialogue forward, or reduce it to a contest in sharpness? How do you read this exchange, as a substantive debate about the European path, or as another round of a familiar political fight?