A correspondent from Serbia was fired by Figaro: "Someone whispered to the manufacturer of Rafale that I was writing critically about the government in Serbia."

Mandolini reportedly informed one of the owners of Figaro, the French weapons manufacturing company Dassault, from which Serbia purchases "Rafales," that there is a correspondent in Belgrade who is politically active.

However, the truth is somewhat different. For over 10 years, Čubrilo Filipović has been exclusively engaged in journalism.

From 2007 to 2010, she served as the Minister for Diaspora, and from 2010 to 2013, she was the Ambassador of Serbia to Tunisia. After completing her political and diplomatic career, Čubrilo Filipović dedicated herself solely to journalism and wrote for Figaro and other media outlets.

The recent correspondent for the French newspaper told N1 that her termination of collaboration was wrapped in a narrative about a break.

“They presented it as a break, saying I shouldn’t write too much, that I should only write if an exceptionally important event occurs, and they would decide whether the event is important or not. They explained that this was not an editorial choice, but rather significant pressure from the owner of Dassault, who manufactures ‘Rafales’ that we purchased,” the journalist told N1.

She adds that the editors clearly told her that they could do nothing about it because the French Ministry had alerted the owner that there is a correspondent in Belgrade who writes too critically about the government in Serbia.

“Dassault called the editorial office and said there’s no more discussion on this matter. The editorial office stated they had tried to defend me, but no agreement could be reached. Then it became public in France. Later, the editorial office said they did not mean it that way but differently, yet de facto - it is a termination,” Čubrilo Filipović explained the situation.

She notes that what happened to her is quite a rare case for France and that it is not customary for the owner of a media house to interfere with human resources. She adds that she was informed of another case similar to hers that occurred in the past month, involving a journalist who wrote about Thales, which is also owned by Dassault.

“This is where media freedom ends, my colleagues at Figaro told me. They said: ‘You didn’t even write about Rafales, but it’s enough that you criticize the regime that buys these Rafales,’” the N1 interlocutor stated.

She emphasizes that what happened to her is “a great achievement for both the government in Serbia and the government in France, as well as for business.”

“French entrepreneurs in Belgrade have some circle within which they meet, and they are extremely satisfied with their cooperation with Serbian authorities. The representative of Dassault is now at the head of this group of entrepreneurs; they not only do not see our problems with democracy but believe that it should not stop good relations. Macron addresses the President of Serbia as ‘my dear Aleksandar’; at this moment, France is perhaps the country that Vučić can rely on the most,” she said.

When speaking about how information about her reached the Rafale manufacturer, she says that the political director surely was not browsing newspapers and checking what correspondents around the world were writing, but that someone from Serbia surely "whispered" to him.

Source: N1