The Independence Day Celebration Cost 5.5 Million Euros: the Public Tender Ran Five Days and Drew One Bid

The Independence Day celebration was supposed to cost "zero denars". What is now known is that around 5.5 million euros was spent. Of that, roughly five million came from the undistributed profit of the State Lottery, plus about 40 million denars from private companies.

The opposition is calling for an investigation to follow the money. At a press conference, SDSM representative Maja Borozan demanded the government publish every contract, annex, invoice, bank transfer and tax calculation, along with the full list of recipients, contractors, suppliers and private financiers.

Five working days and one bid

Of all the questions raised, one is hard to walk past. The public tender ran for only five working days and received a single bid.

You do not need great investigative skill to interpret that. Anyone who has dealt with public procurement knows what a five-day tender with one bidder means. According to the opposition, the tender closed on 8 May, and just three days later the authorities were already announcing a performance by David Guetta - an international act whose booking is negotiated over months, not days.

If that does not line up chronologically, then the question is not whether the best organiser was chosen, but exactly when it was decided who it would be.

What is still hidden

The names of the companies that provided around 40 million denars are not known, nor the individual amounts, nor the basis on which the funds were paid. Private money for a public celebration, with no public list - that is an arrangement that demands an explanation on its own.

There is also no clear record of roughly 1.75 million denars from ticket sales. Who collected it, which account it landed in, how it was recorded for tax - none of that has been said.

Nor has it been published what the Guetta performance cost: the fee, the production package, the stage, the technical setup, transport and the international crew.

For comparison, the opposition points out that the celebration of NATO membership was held in 15 towns, cost 240,000 euros - and all the details and documents were published.

The gap between 240,000 and 5.5 million euros is a discussion in itself. The gap between published and unpublished documents is something else entirely. The first is a political decision about how much to spend. The second is a question of whether a citizen has the right to see where their money went.

The government is silent for now. And silence in response to a question about five and a half million euros is always louder than any press release.