Belgrade’s EXPO 2027: Prestige project or power play?

With two years to go before Belgrade hosts the international specialized exhibition EXPO 2027, Serbia’s government is moving full steam ahead with preparations for what it calls “the biggest event in the country’s modern history”.

President Aleksandar Vucic has declared the project a national priority, so much so that he has cited it as a reason to reject calls for early parliamentary elections, despite mass student protests.

The exhibition, scheduled from 15 May to 15 August 2027 under the theme “Play for Humanity: Sport and Music for All”, is expected to draw over 120 countries and more than three million visitors. Vucic claims that 115 nations have already confirmed their participation and aims to surpass the record set by Kazakhstan’s Astana Expo in 2017, which hosted 117 countries.

A major preparatory meeting was held in Belgrade on 10-11 June, bringing together over 400 delegates from 154 countries. It was the first of four such meetings and aimed to brief participants on the master plan, pavilion construction, logistics, and digital infrastructure. Yet while dignitaries gathered inside the Sava Center, students protested outside, displaying banners accusing the government of corruption and environmental negligence.

Their grievances are not isolated. Critics warn that the EXPO project could burden Serbia with massive public debt and cause irreversible damage to New Belgrade’s water sources and protective embankments.

The government has said that the EXPO development – dubbed “A Leap into the Future” – will cost around €18 billion in total, with at least €1.3 billion allocated for facilities on the main exhibition site in the Surčin municipality. However, observers expect the final bill to be much higher, citing Serbia’s common practice of amending infrastructure contracts mid-execution.

Beyond the EXPO grounds, Surčin municipality is slated to receive a national football stadium, multiple theme parks, a dolphinarium, a luxury residential complex, and a 400-room hotel. Critics say many of the awarded contracts have gone to companies with close ties to the ruling party. For example, the national stadium is being built by a Chinese contractor in partnership with a Serbian firm owned by a known government affiliate. One of the exhibition halls is being constructed by a company co-owned by the son of Red Star FC’s director, while the EXPO Residence – 1,500 luxury apartments, is being developed by a firm linked to Red Star’s basketball club.

The opposition accuses the government of using EXPO as a cover for awarding 323 infrastructure contracts without feasibility studies or open tenders. In 2023, the ruling majority passed a special law to fast-track construction and bypass standard procurement rules. This so-called “lex specialis” enables contracting without transparency requirements, drawing concern from civil society and EU diplomats alike.

NGOs and planning experts have flagged numerous violations, including shortened public consultation periods and missing occupancy permits. The Ministry of Urban Planning warned that key documents are outdated or missing altogether, and that the process violates Serbia’s own Planning and Construction Law.

Professor Danijela Milovanovic-Rodic, an expert in urban planning, has raised red flags over the project’s vague definition. “We’ve identified nine different versions of official documents that all use the word EXPO in the title,” she said. “They reference different budgets, sizes, and purposes. We don’t even know the final boundaries.”

Meanwhile, critics accuse Vucic of politicizing the project. In June, he met with Olympic legend Usain Bolt, who he presented as a brand ambassador for EXPO 2027. The move drew backlash, with opponents questioning why Serbia’s most celebrated athlete, Novak Djokovic, who has shown sympathy for the student protests, was not chosen instead.

The EU-Serbia Joint Consultative Committee echoed concerns in a recent declaration, calling for urgent constitutional scrutiny of the EXPO Special Law. The Committee warned that it could open the door to nepotism, discrimination, weak oversight, and abuse of emergency procurement.

EXPOs often flourish where dissent does not

While World Expositions (EXPOs) are designed as platforms for innovation and intercultural exchange, the reality of recent decades reveals a geopolitical subtext. The majority of recent hosts have been authoritarian or semi-authoritarian regimes, countries that can unilaterally commit billions to such events with little to no public oversight.

EXPOs are expensive. Dubai’s Expo 2020, delayed due to the pandemic, is estimated to have cost over $7 billion. Kazakhstan’s Expo 2017 in Astana came in at $3 billion, while China’s massive Expo 2010 in Shanghai reportedly exceeded $45 billion, including related infrastructure. These figures are rarely subject to open debate in their host countries.

In authoritarian systems, leaders can treat these global spectacles as tools of soft power and domestic consolidation. Without parliamentary scrutiny or independent media, governments can pour resources into constructing futuristic pavilions and flawless public narratives – using the EXPO not just to showcase national progress, but to curate global legitimacy.

As EXPO 2030 approaches in Riyadh, this dynamic is again in play. Saudi Arabia’s leadership sees the event as a cornerstone of its Vision 2030 strategy, but critics view it as another example of using spectacle to mask domestic repression.

In contrast, democratic states like Germany (Hanover 2000), Japan (Aichi 2005), and Italy (Milan 2015) have also hosted EXPOs, but the process has typically been fraught with public debate over cost, priorities, and long-term benefit. In Milan, protests erupted over inflated budgets and corruption; in Hanover, the event ran over budget and drew fewer visitors than expected; and in Japan, civic discussions centered around environmental impact and corporate influence.

These differences reveal a deeper pattern: EXPOs are more easily realized where there are fewer obstacles to elite decision-making. In democratic systems, citizens often ask whether the economic and environmental costs are justified. In authoritarian regimes, dissent is minimized and mega-events become exercises in curated visibility.

Serbia’s EXPO 2027 in Belgrade follows this pattern. Organizers forecast 3-4 million visitors, with an economic impact of roughly €1.1 billion. Serbia, like other centralized regimes, is capitalizing on EXPO 2027 to project global relevance, accelerate urban development, and cultivate a modern national identity. But the risk remains: without transparency, the social and economic dividends of such heavy investment may bypass public scrutiny, even as citizens bear both the costs and the consequences.

Edited by d.d.

Caption: Picture from Vucic’s official Facebook page. “The brand ambassador of EXPO2027 is Usain Bolt, the fastest man ever, a man for whom limits never existed”, stated the president of Serbia.

Updated: June 19, 2025 - 11:31