Malaga has been left at the gates to host the International Expo 2027, a jug of cold water for the Spanish delegation, which has been in second position and has been surpassed by Belgrade by only 11 votes.
Spain surpassed the first, the second and the third round of votes, but finally the capital of Serbia emerged victorious, with 81 votes compared to 70 for Spain.
The expectation has been maximum throughout the day in which the 172nd assembly of the BIE (Bureau International des Expositions) has taken place, which has been held in Paris and to which Malaga and the other candidates have attended to defend for the third and last time their project.
While people from Malaga and authorities followed the course of the day from the capital in a public event in the central Alcazabilla street, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, the president of the Junta de Andalucía, Juanma Moreno and the mayor of the city, Francisco de la Torre, did so from Paris to support the Spanish candidacy in situ.
After the ruling, de la Torre commented to the press that “Serbia has known how to move better.”
For her part, the spokeswoman for the Málaga government team, Elisa Pérez de Siles, has valued the work of the Expo Málaga 2027 candidacy, after it lost in the final vote with Serbia, but has made it clear that “we will take more, but the dream continues and we will make it possible”.
This was stated in a message on social networks, where he specified that “we have dreamed… many thanks to those who have worked so hard for and for Malaga’s candidacy for several years.”
The Malaga candidacy competed with four others; Minnesota (United States), Phuket (Thailand), Belgrade (Serbia) and San Carlos de Bariloche (Argentina). Finally, the capital of Serbia was the winner, which will hold an international exhibition in 2027 under the motto ‘Game for humanity: sport and music for all’, it was designed with the purpose of exploring the ways in which humanity can use power of the game to develop the resilience of individuals and communities in a world full of insecurities.
For its part, the Malaga project had the motto ‘The urban age: towards the sustainable city’, which addresses a theme that affects all countries, regardless of their level of development.
The candidacy proposed a reflection on one of the main challenges facing contemporary society in the medium and long term: making population growth and urban development compatible with environmental protection and the adoption of innovative solutions that guarantee a improvement of the quality of life of residents in cities.
The Spanish candidacy was well positioned and had great strengths such as the support of all administrations, the city’s good communications and the fact that it proposed a highly topical debate that affects all cities in the world, regardless of their degree of development.
The final voting has been carried out in elimination rounds. The first city to leave was the Argentinian San Carlos Bariloche, followed by the Thai Phuket and finally the American Minnesota. Thus, Malaga and Belgrade were left, the latter being the one that was finally proclaimed the winner by only 11 votes difference.
This result has been a jug of cold water for the Spanish delegation, which until the last moment hoped to get the votes of the eliminated delegations to overcome Belgrade, which has been the most supported in all rounds of voting.
The International Exhibition was the most ambitious project in the city, which would have mobilized an investment of more than 2,250 million euros, and was called upon to accelerate the transformation experienced by the capital of Malaga in recent years, focused on innovation and culture. A project that was being worked on since 2019 and that is now being cut short by a handful of votes.
