The company "Mint Holding" will invest 950 million euros in the construction of new plants for the automotive industry in Leskovac i Bridges, it was announced on Saturday (July 19) from the office of the mayor of Leskovac, Goran Cvetanović.
It is planned to create 1.000 new jobs in Leskovac, while the total investment will be realized in the next five years.
However, the Ministry of Economy, at least for now, has not announced whether and how much the state will subsidize the new plants of this factory.
The Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the Mayor of Leskovac Goran Cvetanović with the Minister of Economy Adrijana Mesarović and the representative of the company "Mint" yesterday in the Government of Serbia.
New plant in Inđija
Just a few days earlier, it was announced that "Mint Holding" will build a factory for the production of electric vehicles in Indjija. In this case, the planned investment is 870 million euros, and the plan is to employ 2.200 workers, writes the portal eKapija.
The Assembly of the Municipality of Inđija adopted the decision on the development of the Detailed Regulation Plan of the Advanced Center for Mobility Serbia, i.e. a prerequisite for the company "Mint" to be able to build in Inđija.
"I will ask you to multiply the entire economy and all the employees in Indjija by two and you will get 'Mint'. This is the number one state project in Serbia when it comes to investments," said the president of the municipality of Indjija, Marko Gašić.
Gašić announced that the contract with the representatives of "Mint" will be signed in the next few days, specifying that it is about 210 hectares of land.
Champion in subsidies
By the way, the company "Mint" in Serbia already has plants in Loznica and Šabac, and it is a champion in state subsidies.
This year, 4,2 billion dinars, i.e. around 36 million euros, were paid out in Serbia for the first three months of the contract on the award of incentives to domestic and foreign investors.
More than half of this sum was paid to the manufacturer of auto parts "Mint", specifically to the plant "Mint Automotive" in Loznica.
This company collected 22.226.285 euros from the state, according to data from the Ministry of Economy.
For the second phase of its investment in the production of equipment and parts for cars, worth more than 183 million euros, that company received a subsidy of a total value of about 23,5 million euros, while the state accepted to pay the first tranche of 22,2 million euros this year. about which "Vreme" already wrote.
The practice of giving subsidies to foreign investors has been present in Serbia since the middle of the previous decade. Since 2006, when the program to attract foreign investments with subsidies began, until the end of 2021, investors have received 978 million euros from the state.
"In economic theory, there is only one adequate argument for paying subsidies, and that is when it comes to new, young industries for which there is still no ecosystem. The state then gives a subsidy to a company that will establish it, which will attract investments from other companies." he explained earlier to "Vreme" economist and president of "Libek" Mihailo Gajić.
The trend of shutting down subsidized companies
Sometimes after a few years, and sometimes after only a few months after millions are invested from citizens' pockets through state subsidies, factories and companies tend to pick up and leave the moment their work is no longer profitable.
Since the beginning of this year, three companies operating in Serbia, Benetton, Johnson Electric and Drexlmeier announced the layoffs. The crisis in the automotive and other industries did not bypass Serbia either. Although they have been operating positively on the foreign market for years, some of the factories will have to be shut down.
And the company Drexlmayer (Draxlmaier) Serbia announced that, 15 years after its establishment in Serbia, to close your factory. The company's press release states that it is always dependent on matching orders from automakers. Thus, despite their efforts, they failed to secure orders for the plant in Zrenjanin, so after considering all options, they will be forced to close it during 2026.
In addition to these factories, there are also "Adient sitting", "Geox" and "Berteks", just some of the companies that have closed their plants in Serbia in the last few years.
