Intro
On the banks of the Danube River in eastern Serbia, Prahovo is a small industrial town belonging to Negotin municipality shaped by an active large chemical production complex. The local industrial ecosystem is strongly linked to phosphoric acid production and related by-products, including phosphogypsum (PG). Its location along one of Europe’s major river corridors makes the area strategically relevant for transport and trade, while also placing industrial activity in a particularly environmentally sensitive setting.
Unlike Veles and Barreiro, the Prahovo case study is characterised by an active industrial operator (Elixir company) rather than a legacy site. This specificity shapes local perceptions and their expressiveness.
The Voice Behind the Place
Local residents from Prahovo and Negotin take the floor speaking as people with direct proximity to Prahovo’s chemical complex. The voices include community members who remember the factory’s scale and role in local livelihoods, alongside residents concerned with how industrial activity is experienced in everyday life.
Overall, they share a grounded, balanced view: strong attachment to place and recognition of industry’s importance, paired with persistent concerns—especially about air quality, oversight, and the feeling that reliable information is not reaching people widely enough. Across the testimonies, the strongest common demand is for transparent public communication and a real channel between producers and surrounding communities, so trust can be rebuilt and risks kept as low as possible—while still leaving room for cautious optimism about safer, solution-oriented paths forward.
Key Insights
- Information, transparency, and the “right to know”. A central theme is the perception that reliable information does not circulate widely enough in the municipality. Participants consider that information needs to be shared through clear methods that reach local communities, rather than remaining confined to private conversations. This demand is framed not only as a communication issue, but as a condition for accountability—people want facts “from experts,” not hearsay, and they want openness about what is happening in their environment.
- Industry’s role: economic backbone, but also a source of unease. The chemical complex in Prahovo is recalled as a major regional employer and a defining feature of local development—an industrial system that sustained thousands of workers and shaped livelihoods across Prahovo and its surroundings. At the same time, participants also associate the industrial legacy with persistent concerns, particularly related to environmental impacts. This dual framing—industry as both stability and worry—runs through many testimonies and helps explain why calls for stronger oversight are so prominent.
- Environmental impacts experienced in everyday terms. Environmental concern is expressed most immediately through air quality. Rather than speaking in abstract terms, participants refer to concrete lived details—such as workplace routines aimed at removing dust from clothing before leaving the factory area. These observations reinforce the sense that exposure is not theoretical, and that monitoring and preventive measures must be visible and credible to the community and strengthened by the fact of participating in a European project such as FIC-Fighters.
- Constructive outlook: optimism linked to expertise and solution pathways. Despite concern and distrust, participants also express a notable sense of optimism, enriched by the experience of taking part in a Horizon Europe project—especially when dialogue is supported by expert input and when the discussion moves from describing problems to exploring what can be done. This includes interest in whether phosphogypsum is harmful, how it can be safely managed, and whether it could be transformed into commercial raw materials under controlled conditions. In that perspective, solutions are not seen as purely technical fixes, but as a pathway that depends on trustworthy information, monitoring, and public participation
Looking Ahead
Across testimonies, the direction of change is consistent: better public information, stronger oversight, and continuous monitoring that people can trust—paired with a communication channel that connects industry and surrounding communities. The goal expressed is not abstract; it is rooted in wellbeing and in the responsibility to leave the environment in better condition for future generations.
At the same time, the future is not framed only in terms of risk. The repeated language of optimism suggests a shared appetite for solutions that combine expertise, participation, and practical pathways—so that phosphogypsum can be addressed responsibly and, where safe, potentially reimagined through circular approaches. This is the pivot that local voices keep returning to: moving from uncertainty and private conversation toward knowledge, trust, and collective action.