After Ana Brnabi\u0107, former Prime Minister of Serbia, issued a statement on 20 January 2022, it seemed that the country\u2019s story of lithium exploitation was over. \u2018The regulation on the spatial plan for the Jadar project \u2026 has been repealed. We never had contracts,\u2019 stated Brnabi\u0107. \u2018We have met all the demands of the environmental protests and brought an end to Rio Tinto in the Republic of Serbia.\u2019 But the ensuing calm only lasted until the summer of 2024, when lithium, like a boomerang, returned to public discourse. Lithium exploitation is very much back on the socio-table.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Preparations for lithium extraction in Serbia<\/span><\/a> became news in 2020, when residents from the western Serbian municipality of Loznica and ecological organisations uncovered multinational Rio Tinto\u2019s intended mining project. While the company\u2019s controversial plans may have officially been stopped in 2022, locals have repeatedly reported that Rio Tinto is <\/span>still purchasing land<\/span><\/a> and carrying out preparatory work despite losing its work permits. The company has even sponsored sports clubs and cultural events in places near the planned, yet halted, mine. Something is brewing beneath the surface; the project seems only to be temporarily on hold.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Environmental activists and certain supportive political parties, who had demanded a legal ban on the extraction of lithium and boron ores in Gornje Nedeljice, Loznica, clearly wanted to permanently protect local residents. But, before the general elections in April 2022, right-wing Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) politicians \u2013 already in power for a decade \u2013 had pushed the issue under the carpet to avoid any political risk.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n When the SNS secured a parliamentary majority, Aleksandar Vu\u010di\u0107 was re-elected as president. The governing party\u2019s authoritative control, favouring nationalist topics spiced with neoliberal economic politics, seemed assured. However, Green representatives entered parliament for the first time and highlighted the lithium issue at an institutional level, raising frequently unanswered questions and demands in parliament. Vu\u010di\u0107 insisted that a great opportunity for development had been missed, while Brnabi\u0107 claimed that Serbia would have to pay large sums in compensation to the multinational company for the cancelled project.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Protest against lithium mining in Belgrade on 10 August 2024. Image by Emilija Knezevic via Wikimedia commons.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Serbian socio-political issues then took a sudden violent turn in the spring of 2023, when two mass shootings, in which 19 children and young people were killed, and 18 others were wounded, occurred just one day apart. The events shook the entire country, sparking mass protests, which disrupted everyday social structures and led to parliamentary, Belgrade city assembly, regional, and some local elections.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In December\u2019s snap elections, the pro-European opposition ran together under a \u2018Serbia Against Violence\u2019 banner, achieving the best result for an opposition coalition since 2012, with Radomir Lazovi\u0107, co-president of the Green-Left Front (ZLF), leading the list. Unprecedented allegations of <\/span>vote rigging<\/span><\/a> also marked the elections, resulting in new protests and a struggle at all levels to contest the results. European Green and Social Democratic parties played a significant role in exposing electoral fraud in Belgrade and nationally. The ensuing political instability lasted until the Belgrade elections were repeated alongside regular local elections in early June 2024. In this rerun, the fragmented opposition, which in part boycotted the elections and campaigned against the opposition that chose to participate, led to poorer results and renewed victory for the SNS.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Once the elections were over, the issue of lithium mining resurfaced. According to <\/span>data <\/span><\/a>from the Bureau for Social Research (BIRODI) monitoring the media, lithium mining was mentioned only 37 times in national broadcasts in May 2024, 330 times in June, and 1,045 times in July. Most of these segments were favourably oriented towards lithium extraction, even though public opinion remained over 50 per cent opposed. During this period, state officials primarily acted as PR agents, loudly promoting the supposed positive aspects of lithium mining in Serbia.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The government\u2019s position sparked public outrage. During the summer, a series of mostly self-organised protests spread across Serbia. The call to action rose in Loznica, the city closest to the planned mine, then expanded to nearly every city in Serbia, culminating in Belgrade, where in mid-August, during a heat wave at the height of the holiday season, <\/span>tens of thousands of people gathered<\/span><\/a>. The slogan of these protests and the entire movement, <\/span>Ne\u0107e\u0161 kopati<\/span><\/i> (\u2018you won\u2019t dig\u2019), became widespread. Chants could be heard at parliament, sporting events, concerts, and other mass gatherings.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Simultaneously, Rio Tinto became increasingly present in the public sphere through media responses to activists, hiring lobbyists, and receiving support from within ruling political parties. It became clear that the lithium exploitation project was back in full force in July 2024, when the Constitutional Court overturned the Serbian government\u2019s decision to halt the Jadar project, stating that it was \u2018<\/span>not in accordance with the Constitution and the law<\/span><\/a>\u2018.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n After the decision, Biljana \u0110or\u0111evi\u0107, member of parliament and co-president of the ZLF, publicly raised a <\/span>question<\/span><\/a>: \u2018Is former Prime Minister Ana Brnabi\u0107 just incompetent for drafting an unconstitutional regulation on ending the Jadar project and thereby exposing the state to a potential lawsuit, or is she merely a corrupt lobbyist for Rio Tinto?\u2019\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n On 19 July 2024, just days after the Constitutional Court\u2019s ruling, a German and European Commission delegation visited Belgrade: Chancellor Olaf Scholz; State Secretary for Economic Affairs and Climate Action and Green member of the Bundestag, Franziska Brantner; European Commission Vice President for the Energy Union, Maro\u0161 \u0160ef\u010dovi\u010d; and German industrialists. Their summer visit realised a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) launching <\/span>a Strategic Partnership between the Republic of Serbia and the European Union<\/span><\/a> on sustainable raw materials, battery value chains, and electric vehicles. In other words, Serbia has lithium reserves that are useful to the German car industry. This aligned with the <\/span>European Critical Raw Materials Act<\/span><\/a>, which aims to shorten the supply and processing chains of materials such as lithium for the net zero industry.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Contesting the Serbian government on democracy, media freedom, the rule of law, its relations with Kosovo, and issues with other neighbouring countries appears to have slipped for the sake of accessing lithium. Despite a change in Germany\u2019s ruling coalition since the last German Chancellor\u2019s visit to Serbia, the goals remain the same. Scholz wants the same lithium that Angela Merkel wanted on <\/span>her last international visit<\/span><\/a> and is willing to legitimise Serbia\u2019s autocratic regime to do so.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n At a joint press conference, President Vu\u010di\u0107 mentioned his <\/span>joint guarantee on environmental protection<\/span><\/a> with Franziska Brantner. However, this constructive cooperation is in effect an attempt to shift responsibility for any potential environmental degradation from himself to Germany, especially to the German Greens. While Vu\u010di\u0107 knows full well that only the Serbian state can determine that the project will meet the highest environmental standards, he still chooses to delegate responsibility. Vu\u010di\u0107\u2019s corroborative tone sends a clear message: he might not like the German Greens, but he considers them reasonable, unlike domestic Greens opposing such a \u2018great\u2019 project. This strategy legitimizes the president while attempting to marginalize local green actors.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Rather than supporting Serbians, who are largely against lithium mining, as illustrated by their protests and blockades, Brantner and the German Green Party are taking the opposite stance. It is not a stance that proposes how the citizens of Serbia could resolve this issue internally without external pressure but rather one focused on insistently pursuing lithium for the decarbonization of a foreign car industry. It appears geopolitics has once again prevailed over ideals, and the priority is to secure Serbia\u2019s lithium before China or Russia. As <\/span>Brantner states<\/span><\/a>: \u2018It\u2019s not a question of \u2018whether the project will happen\u2019, but \u2018whether Rio Tinto\u2019s project will be carried out with European partners or the Chinese\u2019. I don\u2019t believe a Chinese-Serbian partnership would be better for democracy, the environment, and the local population. However, Brantner\u2019s perspective overlooks how Serbian institutions are completely undermined: there is no rule of law or democracy. In such conditions, the decision on lithium mining would be forcibly imposed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As a result, Serbian citizens opposing lithium mining perceive the German Green Party as a malignant force seeking to harm them. They fear that Serbia could become a sacrificial zone for the European green transition. If this pressure continues, it raises the question of how long it will take for Serbia and progressive political actors to recover. <\/span>Support for joining<\/span><\/a> the European Union would likely continue to decline, even though it is already the lowest of all countries negotiating for or in the process of joining the EU.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Serbian right-wing narratives that equate the EU-backed exploitation of lithium with the \u2018stealing\u2019 of Kosovo or Bosnia\u2019s Serbian entity, Republika Srpska, by foreign powers will continue to strengthen. Scholz and Brantner\u2019s visit only seems to benefit Vu\u010di\u0107 and the right-wing opposition, which the president already heavily influences. Serbia\u2019s few progressive actors are left in a worsening position, having to explain how they can oppose lithium exploitation while still supporting EU accession, given the EU\u2019s unethical pursuit of lithium.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nBeneath the surface<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nSnap elections and protests\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n
The EU and German Greens\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n