BRUSSELS – The European Green Party has expressed solidarity with anti-lithium protesters in Serbia ahead of a debate on lithium mining in the National Assembly of Serbia, which has been announced for next week. In a statement released today, European Greens reminded that tens of thousands of people in Serbia protested in fifty cities across the country this summer against the decision of the Serbian authorities to allow the multinational mining company Rio Tinto to mine for lithium in the Jadar Valley.
“The Jadar valley is a densely populated rural area in Western Serbia, with fertile agricultural land and significant reserves of underground drinkable water that are highly valuable for the region. The benefits of the current lithium extraction project in Serbia will go to the British-Australian multinational company Rio Tinto, leaving immeasurable damage to the environment and the local population. Next week, the Serbian National Parliament will have an extraordinary session on lithium-mining, following a request of the opposition”, the European Greens stressed.
A total of 86 opposition MPs from across the ideological spectrum have submitted a draft law proposing a ban on lithium extraction in Serbia. Representatives of the ruling majority have already criticized the law, reinforcing the expectation that it will not be adopted.
Speaking about the possible lithium mining in Serbia, European Green Party co-chair Thomaz Waitz claimed that genuine public debate must take place.
“Let’s not repeat the errors of the past, when the rush for critical materials for energy led to pollution and disruption of societies. Genuine consultations must be held, and processes put in place to ensure accountability before any operations are even considered. The current Memorandum of Understanding between EU and Serbia does not legally ensure any of these standards”, Thomaz Waitz remarked.
According to Waitz, the current Memorandum of Understanding between the EU and Serbia does not legally ensure any of these standards, and the European Union “must first assure that there is a legal framework in Serbia that allows for people to hold Rio Tinto and the Serbian government to account”.
“To avoid an extractive approach, the EU must support resource-rich countries, enabling them to extract, process, and recycle materials according to the same conditions as within the EU, and put the rights of communities, nature, and biodiversity at the centre of all projects. We also strongly condemn the violence, detentions and intimidation of activists who oppose lithium mining”, the European Greens underlined.
A series of protests were organised in the summer of 2024 in Serbia after the decision made by the Government of Serbia in mid-July to continue with the project to open a lithium mine in the Jadar Valley, which had been stopped by the state authorities in 2022, also due to large-scale protests.
On 19 July the Critical Raw Material Summit took place in Belgrade, attended by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Vice President of the European Commission Maroš Šefčovič and President Aleksandar Vučić. It concluded with the signing of an EU-Serbia Memorandum of Understanding on sustainable raw materials, battery value chains and electric vehicles. The summit was widely seen as a major step towards the implementation of a lithium mining project in Jadar Valley.