Expo organisers parry further criticism

ROME- Organisers of the 2015 World Expo in Milan are faced with controversy after Italian newspaper Il Giornale revealed that Italian public pensions company INPS has been offering free tickets to pensioners and low income workers in an apparent attempt to boost the international fair’s attendance figures.

The offer is valid for the month of August, and entitles pensioners and workers with an annual income lower than 10,000 euros to also benefit from half price Trenitalia train tickets to Milan or to the Rho Fiera station where the Expo is being held.

Il Giornale reporters said that the money to pay for these concessions is coming from the Italian citizen’s pocket, as the three participating companies, Trenitalia, INPS and EXPO Milano are public entities. Furthermore, the newspaper has called the offer a deceitful attempt to cover up that the world fair in Milan is a “flop”.

EXPO commissioner Giuseppe Sala has defended the initiative, saying that, “(it) aims to offer the opportunity to visit the Expo to those who otherwise would not have the means to do so”. Just last month, the Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano reported that almost 2 million visitors had been “fabricated”, when comparing the turnstile data with the announcements from Sala.  

Sala also added that this was no controversy, and that he understands that “in August, there are days where newspaper pages need to be filled with preposterous articles.” According to Sala, this is the first time that a world expo has been socially aware, by involving the old, the young, and those different economic backgrounds, and INPS has helped to fulfil this goal.