Budapest Mayor: Belgrade Waterfront a red flag

At a press conference of the Serbian opposition Green-Left Front, Karacsony said a project much like the Belgrade Waterfront is also being prepared in Budapest, that it has the same investor and a similar concept.

We realized during this visit and in talks with activists that only the investor benefited from that project, but not the citizens of Belgrade, he said. The talk with the activists, who told us about the impact of that project on the climate and economic development, was a red flag to ensure that it does not happen in Budapest, Karacsony told the press conference in Belgrade.

He said a European city in the 21st century should serve the community, not investors.

“It would be good if elections were repeated in Belgrade. I want to encourage Belgraders to fight for leaders who work in the interest of the community,” said the Budapest Mayor.

Green-Left Front representative Dobrica Veselinovic said Belgrade has not been visited by a mayor of a big European city for years.

“We did not have a single visit during (Belgrade Mayor) Aleksandar Sapic’s term in office. Belgrade is excluded from important processes taking place in the European Union and in big cities. It is important that this visit took place after the visit to Brussels because it proves that there is a credible opposition in Serbia and Belgrade. We want to show the citizens that there is an alternative to this isolated island of Belgrade where we have been living for ten years,” said Veselinovic.

The Belgrade Waterfront is a housing and commercial complex on the right bank of the Sava River in central Belgrade. The company’s majority owner is the Abu Dhabi-based private investment and development Eagle Hills Company with the Serbian government as minority shareholder.