Berlin inks lithium deal with Belgrade despite environmental concerns, 19 July 2024

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and European Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič locked down a series of deals on Friday granting the EU and European carmakers exclusive access to Serbian lithium and paving the way for the construction of one of the largest lithium mines on the Continent.

“This is an important European project and contributes to Europe remaining sovereign and independent in the supply of raw materials in a changing world,” Scholz told journalists...

Šefčovič and Dubravka Đedović Handanović, Serbia’s mining and energy minister, signed a deal to formalize the EU supply chain and value-added processing for lithium mined by Rio Tinto, a British-Australian mining consortium...

Letters of intent were also signed with representatives of leading European automobile producers such as Germany’s Mercedes-Benz and French-Italian automaker Stellantis.

Yet despite the potential it holds for the EU, the project is unpopular in Serbia.

Plans to extract Serbia’s exceptionally pure “Jadarite” lithium, which could involve clearing lush fields and forests in the Jadar region and contaminating water supplies, are highly controversial and sparked extensive protests from 2021 to 2022, uniting political factions in an otherwise divided ideological landscape...

During the opening session of the Critical Raw Minerals Summit on Friday, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić acknowledged the lack of support for the project in the country, but stressed that he believes “people will increasingly stand with their country and their government once they see the level of commitment and diligence with which we have approached this project”...

Civil society actors are also concerned that the project, as outlined in the documents signed on Friday, will be personally overseen by Vučić.

Leading opposition figures, including Marinika Tepić from the Party of Freedom and Justice, criticized the signing of the deals, alleging that the president and the ruling party deceived voters by failing to make any mention of the lithium deal during campaigning for the general election last December...

According to the details of agreements signed with the EU, the president would personally oversee the development of the project and “meet on a regular basis [with European Commission Vice President Šefčovič] to monitor progress and decide on next steps.” This has raised fears among activists that the EU may overlook what they view as Serbia’s growing slide into autocracy under Vučić and his Serbian Progressive Party in return for his ability to quash opposition to the mine at home.