Due to tabloid attacks on the president of the Executive Board of Generali osiguranje Dragan Filipović and the expulsion of civil sector activists in January, the organizers of a large international fair that was supposed to be held in Belgrade canceled the event.
The international fair South East Europe Mobility 2025, which was supposed to be held in Belgrade, was canceled due to tabloid attacks on the chairman of the Executive Board of Generali osiguranje Dragan Filipović and the expulsion of civil sector activists in January, writes New economy.
The South East Europe Mobility 2025 international rail industry fair was due to take place in April, but the organizer, Cluster railway Southeast Europe (RCSEE), previously announced that the event was canceled, as companies from five EU countries and some of the associations of the European railway industry canceled participation in this fair.
When asked what is the specific reason for this, the RCSEE said that the Italian companies that came forward as exhibitors cited an example of an attack on the director of the Generali Insurance company "which has been heard a lot in Italian business circles in recent weeks, and some business associations also reacted", writes Nova ekonomija.
"Generali is the second largest Italian company in the world and obviously the word about what he experienced in Serbia has gone far. The Italians even mentioned that the case was reported to the Court of Honor of the European Federation of Industries," the RCSEE states.
Targeting of Dragan Filipović
President of the Executive Board of Generali Dragan Filipović he was exposed to tabloid attacks for weeks because he attended protests organized by students in a private capacity.
Filipović's photo was published by the pro-government tabloids Informer and Republika (Serbian Telegraph), accusing him of "wanting to overthrow the state." The company itself was the target of the targeting that followed.
Because of this, Generali Insurance decided to withdraw from the work of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce and the Association of Insurers of Serbia. The company was publicly supported by numerous trade organizations, including the Council of Foreign Investors, the Serbian Association of Managers, the Chamber of Italian-Serbian Businessmen and Confindustria.
Also, the Austrian companies that were supposed to be exhibitors and visitors to the fair cited an example of the expulsion of the participants of the ERSTE Foundation conference in Belgrade, according to the RCSEE for the New Economy.
These companies said that they received warnings from the Austrian authorities "about the risk of traveling to Serbia in the current circumstances", say the organizers, and reports New economy.
Alleged "security risks"
The Serbian police in January expelled 13 foreign representatives of the civil sector because they allegedly pose a "security risk". This move was linked in public to the unsubstantiated claims of the state leadership that foreigners are behind mass protests against corruption in Serbia.
As explained by the RCSEE, half of the companies in the Southeast European Railway Cluster are from Serbia, and the other half of the companies are from Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Croatia, Austria, Germany, Italy, France, Switzerland, Great Britain.
In recent weeks, there has been constant news that certain warnings have been issued about companies going to events in Serbia and that individuals undertake them at their own risk, according to the RCSEE.
This information, as they say, also came from visitors to the fair from Romania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, as well as from some representatives of associations of the European railway industry who were supposed to be guests of the fair.
"Representatives of some companies even had people of our origin, Serbs, working for them and who followed the statements of the political leadership of Serbia, because they understand the language. And then they had concerns about whether business people from European countries were desirable after accusations that such visitors were involved in the alleged 'color revolution' in our country. All that together led to an atmosphere in which half of our foreign sponsors and exhibitors canceled their participation in the fair, and it made no sense to organize it under such conditions," said the RCSEE.
The goal of the fair is to connect companies from Serbia and the region with other European partners. If there are no European and regional partners, then domestic companies have no interest in participating in the fair either, according to the answer for New Economy.
Previously, the RCSEE stated that some participants canceled their attendance at the fair due to the expulsion of persons from the EU, the targeting of directors of European companies in Serbia, as well as accusations by the Serbian leadership against the "West", Europe and EU members that they are carrying out a "color revolution".
Source: New Economy
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