The EXPO International Exposition, the Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC), a motorway in the entity of Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Office for Kosovo and Metohija. Among other things, the State of Serbia has been spending money from its budget reserve on all of these. As a rule, this money should be spent on unforeseen expenditure.
However, since the beginning of 2026, money from the reserve has been drawn over 130 times by Government decree, according to an analysis by Radio Free Europe (RFE). Neither the Government nor the Ministry of Finance responded prior to the publication of this article to questions about why it was necessary to use funds from the reserve so many times. The amounts allocated to various beneficiaries of the public purse exceeded 122 million euros. And that is only a portion of the money. This is because in more than 30 government decrees published in the Official Gazette, the amount to be drawn from the reserve was not precisely defined.
“Too broad and insufficiently transparent” is how the Fiscal Council – an independent body that monitors state finances – describes the spending of the budgetary reserve in its reports. RFE presents an overview of what the reserve was spent on during 2026. Apart from urgent costs – such as medical treatment for citizens abroad, the procurement of vaccines, or purchasing fuel reserves during months of global energy crisis – money was also allocated to major projects that already have a line item in the budget, such as EXPO.
Millions for EXPO from the reserve
At one of the largest construction sites in Serbia, in the Belgrade suburb of Surčin, thousands of workers and hundreds of machines are currently at work. A complex is being built for the international specialized exhibition EXPO, which Belgrade will host next year, in 2027. The construction of facilities for EXPO is one of the largest items in this year’s Budget Law. However, alongside regular, planned allocations, millions of euros are also coming from the reserve. Money has been allocated four times. More than 11.8 million euros were allocated to the Republic Directorate for Water and Elektroprivreda Srbije – among other things, for riverbank reinforcement near Surčin and cable lines at the National Stadium.
In two decrees, the designated amount was listed as “1,000 dinars” (around ten euros). This was for “support for the implementation” of the EXPO project and the construction of facilities in Zones B and E, where the exhibition halls and Serbia’s national pavilion are located. However, this does not mean that the Ministry of Finance will actually allocate only one thousand dinars for this purpose. This is a so-called “technical” amount used to unlock funds for that budget line. The actual amount is determined later.
“This means that in practice a budget appropriation is opened, and larger funds are planned for allocation. If you open an appropriation without the approval of Parliament and a budget review, that is an abuse of the law,” says economist and professor at FEFA faculty Goran Radosavljević.
While the authorities, led by President Aleksandar Vučić, describe EXPO as an “historic project and a symbol of the future,” parts of the public view the project with suspicion due to allegations of corruption and a lack of transparency. Under a special law, construction contracts are awarded without tenders, leading a section of opposition parties and non-governmental activists to claim that contracts are given to companies close to the authorities. Consequently, in recent months, they have called on international organisers to reconsider holding EXPO in Serbia. Questions sent to the Belgrade EXPO organisation regarding the financing of the construction from the budgetary reserve, as well as the allegations of a lack of transparency, went unanswered. They referred us to the Ministry of Finance, which likewise failed to respond.
Millions for the Church of Saint Sava
The Serbian Orthodox Church, as the largest religious community in the country, has received money from the reserve at least six times since the beginning of the year. Around two million euros were provided, via a donation from the General Secretariat of the Government, for the completion of the construction of the Church of Saint Sava in Belgrade. The decree was published two days before the signing of an agreement between the Government of Serbia and the Serbian Orthodox Church on 28 June, agreeing that the completion of the church would be financed from the state budget. It has been under construction for over 90 years and is described as the largest Orthodox church in Serbia. The state has invested millions of euros on multiple occasions, but there are no precise figures on the total cost of its construction.
Three donations from the budgetary reserve during 2026 went to SPC eparchies outside Serbia’s borders. The Eparchy of Bihać and Petrovac in Bosnia and Herzegovina was allocated around one million euros as “financial assistance”. One month prior to this grant, the same eparchy awarded the “Order of the New Martyrs” to Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić for “demonstrated benefaction and great love towards that eparchy and the Rmanj Monastery”. Aid worth around 300 thousand euros, channelled through the General Secretariat of the Government, was also received by the SPC Eparchy of Buda in Hungary.
Around 200 thousand euros were allocated for the restoration of the Patriarchal Palace in Dalj, Croatia. The Government also earmarked money for the construction of two churches in locations in Serbia where local elections took place during the spring. Around 150 thousand euros were donated for the church in Klokočevac, near Majdanpek in eastern Serbia. Around 128 thousand euros were set aside for the construction of a church in Lučani, in western Serbia.
Furthermore, via the Ministry without Portfolio for International Economic Cooperation – headed by pro-Russian minister Nenad Popović, who is on the US sanctions list – around 500 thousand euros were allocated for “grants to churches in the country and abroad to improve their social standing”. This continued the established practice of financing the SPC from the state budget reserve during months when the church took the side of the authorities and labelled mass anti-government protests as an attempt to destabilise the country. The SPC did not respond to RFE’s questions regarding state funding and how that money is spent.
Undisclosed amount for Kosovo
Four decrees by the Government of Serbia since the start of the year stipulate that money from the reserve be redirected to the Office for Kosovo and Metohija. More than 400 thousand euros were designated for “assistance to youth and female entrepreneurship”, while just over 75 thousand euros were allocated for social cards for displaced Serbs from Kosovo. The Office also received money from the reserve to assist citizens of Serbian nationality who are in prison in Kosovo. Over 130 thousand euros were earmarked to help those whom Belgrade considers victims of “staged proceedings launched for the purpose of political persecution”. Among such proceedings, they mention trials for “allegedly committed crimes” during the 1998–1999 Kosovo War, for which Serbia denies responsibility.
In one decree regarding the use of the budget reserve for Kosovo, the amount was not specified. This was for the construction and reconstruction of residential buildings in Kosovo. The Office did not respond to RFE’s questions requesting details on how much money was allocated from the reserve and where and how it will be spent. Under the umbrella of the Office are Serbian institutions in Kosovo, which official Pristina considers illegal. Tenders for infrastructure works in Serb-majority areas are conducted by Temporary Municipal Bodies established under Serbian law. They functioned in Kosovo until 2024, after which Kosovan authorities closed them down along with other Serbian institutions, citing their illegality. However, they have continued their work from alternative locations in border towns within Serbia.
Donation for the motorway in Republika Srpska
Around ten million euros from the budget reserve went to a neighbouring country at the beginning of July. With this money, Serbia supported the construction of the motorway from Rača to Bijeljina, in the Republika Srpska entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The completion of works on this roughly 20-kilometre stretch is delayed, with deadlines repeatedly pushed back. The motorway has been under construction since 2019 on both sides of the border, aimed at connecting Belgrade and Banja Luka.
The Bijeljina–Rača section is worth around 180 million euros, of which Serbia is providing 80 percent of the funding, with Republika Srpska contributing the remaining 20 percent. The main contractor is Integral Inženjering, based in Laktaši near Banja Luka. That company had been under US sanctions since October 2022 due to allegations of corruption in the construction sector and links to former entity president Milorad Dodik. The sanctions against it were lifted in 2024.
From central to local treasury
Belgrade, Niš, Irig, Čačak, Vrbas, Kladovo. All of these cities and municipalities received “aid” from the budget reserve during 2026. The City of Niš received funds twice, totalling around 9.4 million euros. Around 1.2 million euros arrived in Belgrade’s treasury. The reasoning in the Government decrees was identical every time – that the money was needed to “meet obligations that could not have been foreseen at the time the budget was adopted, and which could jeopardize ongoing liquidity.” However, there were no details on what exactly the money was intended for. The leadership of these cities and municipalities failed to respond to RFE’s questions prior to publication. In the small municipality of Kladovo in eastern Serbia, over 480 thousand euros were transferred.
The Government decree was published in the Official Gazette at the end of February 2026, less than a month before local elections in that municipality. In the elections in Kladovo and nine other municipalities and cities on 29 March, victory was claimed by the ruling Serbian Progressive Party (SNS).
How are sports federations spending reserve money?
Allocations from the reserve began as early as mid-January, two weeks after the 2026 Budget Law came into force. “This only shows that it was almost certainly known in advance what the budgetary reserve would be spent on, and that the executive was given a free hand to spend money however it wants. The General Secretariat of the Government appears here as a ‘pass-through heater’ for anything and everything,” points out economist Goran Radosavljević.
In mid-January, sports federations – specifically basketball and football – received money via the General Secretariat of the Government. The justification given was “financial assistance for the regular operation of sports associations”. Grants to the Basketball Federation of Serbia (KSS) from the reserve arrived seven more times after that. In total, over 12 million euros have been allocated to them from the reserve so far. By the time of publication, RFE had not received a response from the Basketball Federation regarding how this money was spent.
The Football Association of Serbia (FSS) received over six million euros from the budgetary reserve during 2026. In addition to five grants via the General Secretariat of the Government listed as “assistance for regular operations”, one was designated for organising a sports camp for children from Ukraine. In a response to RFE, the FSS stated that, apart from the camp, the budget reserve was used to fund the maintenance of three state stadiums in Leskovac, Loznica, and Zaječar, while the rest of the money was intended to assist clubs at their request. The response did not specify which clubs were granted assistance.
The FSS rejected public criticism that government funding of federations secures their loyalty, calling such claims “unfounded” and “based on blanket allegations rather than facts”. They also highlighted that audits of FSS operations are conducted by world and European football governing bodies (FIFA and UEFA), an independent auditor, and the Ministry of Sports. “These processes are extremely demanding and comprehensive, and any finding of misuse of funds would inevitably lead to problems, financial and other sanctions for the national association,” they concluded in their response.
Money from the reserve was also earmarked for the Tennis Federation of Serbia via the Ministry of Sports – around 500 thousand euros. In a February decree published in the Official Gazette, it was stated that the money from the reserve was approved for the Ministry as a grant to the Tennis Federation “to implement its regular programme”. In its response to RFE, the Tennis Federation stated that two contracts were signed with the Ministry of Sports during 2026, under which funds were secured to finance their regular work. “The amounts in those two contracts brought the total to the sum approved for the Tennis Federation of Serbia in previous years as well. It was approved for 2026 by the Olympic Committee of Serbia and later the Ministry of Sports of the Republic of Serbia when regular programmes for 2026 were submitted back in April 2025,” they emphasized. They also stressed that as a federation, they have never received a single objection regarding the expenditure of budget funds, and that their finances are audited by an independent auditor.
Mobile clinics instead of military service
During 2026, the budgetary reserve was not only emptied, but also topped up. In mid-May 2026, dozens of budget beneficiaries – from the Presidency of Serbia to ministries, courts, and administrative districts – transferred money into the current reserve. A total of 148 million euros was transferred, placing that money at the disposal of the Government to distribute further by decree.
Decrees on spending money from the budgetary reserve also reveal how the authorities abandoned certain plans for this year. For instance, part of the Ministry of Defence’s budget intended for compulsory military service was redirected towards mobile clinics, sports competitions, and the purchase of artwork. According to the latest announcements by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, compulsory 75-day military service is set to begin in March 2027.
(Radio Free Europe, 07.08.2026)
https://www.slobodnaevropa.org/a/srbija-budzet-rezerva-novac-trosenje-expo/33822847.html