By the Seine River through Paris on a rainy day, more than 10.000 athletes sail and wave to hundreds of thousands gathered on the shore, smoke signals rise in the colors of the French flag, Lady Gaga sings, Celine Dion performs on the Eiffel Tower and the Olympic flame rises above the capital of France.
Two weeks of sports competitions followed, and the eyes of the world were on the medal winners.
Even more spectacular was the closing where Tom Cruise carries the Olympic flame to Los Angeles, while the band Phoenix performs at the stadium in Paris, and the Peppers, Billie Eilish and Snoop Doggy Dog perform live in California.
We turned back the year and the Olympic Games held last year in France.
Eleven months later, the total costs were announced Olympic Games - namely organization costs - 2,77 billion, of which 1,4 billion for security, infrastructure - 3,19 billion.
The global event watched by millions around the world cost France around six billion euros, although the country's finance ministry previously estimated twice the lower amount.
The President of the Court of Auditors predicted before the start of the Olympic Games that they would cost three to five billion euros.
While Los Angeles is preparing for the next Olympic Games to be held in California in 2028, Belgrade will host a specialized EXPO exhibition.
So far, more than a hundred countries have confirmed their participation in it, and the public is presented with different amounts about how much it costs to organize such an exhibition.
How much does EXPO cost?
In January 2024, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić presented the "Leap into the Future - Serbia EXPO 2027" plan and said that in the next three and a half to four years, Serbia will invest 2027 billion euros in all projects, including EXPO 17,8.
The President then specifically presented the concept of planning and building complex infrastructure within the framework of the implementation of the International Specialized Exhibition EXPO 2027 in Belgrade, which, as he clarified, will largely represent the investment core in the upcoming period.
"We plan to invest 17,8 billion euros, which is at the level of the one-year budget of the Republic of Serbia," said Vučić at the time.
In the meantime, the name of the project has been changed to "Leap into the future - Serbia 2027" and as Finance Minister Siniša Mali explained in March 2025, it is wider than the EXPO project itself, denying claims that around 18 billion euros will be invested in the EXPO alone.
Mali, as announced by the Ministry of Finance, said that as part of the "Leap into the Future" program, around 2027 billion euros will be invested throughout Serbia until 18 in more than 300 projects, and among other things, schools, health facilities, highways, roads, high-speed railways, the BIO4 campus will be built and renovated.
The EXPO itself, explained Mali, includes an investment of around 1,2 billion euros, and that is for the construction, as he said, of a new city in Surčin, which will contain a residential complex, an aquatic center and a national stadium.
General Secretary of EXPO on costs
Secretary General of the International Bureau for Exhibitions, Dimitri Kerkezes he said recently that the costs for the EXPO in Serbia amount to 1,3 billion euros with all the necessary infrastructure, and that he knows nothing about the 18 billion that the Government of Serbia presented for this project. He emphasized that it is not a project for an individual or a group, but for the entire nation.
Kerkeses said that he "was never presented, nor did he see that the Government of Serbia presented a budget of 18 billion euros for this event".
"We had an insight into what was presented to the Executive Committee and our General Assembly, and it is in the range of 1 to 1,3 billion euros - and that makes sense to us", said Kerkezes and added that the investment of 18 billion as part of the EXPO will not be accepted, "because it has nothing to do with the event itself. But, I hope it is part of a wider incentive for the development of the country".
56 billion euros for 21 capital projects
The total value of 56 capital projects in which the state plans to invest money is 2.468 billion dinars, which is about 21 billion euros, according to data published in the Draft Fiscal Strategy for 2026 with projections for 2027 and 2028.
So far, 929,7 billion dinars have been invested in them, and in this and the next three years, the planned expenditure is another 920 billion dinars.
With this strategy, EXPO is estimated at a total of 139,6 billion dinars.
