The European Union and Serbia were due to sign a deal on Friday to supply battery materials during a “critical raw materials summit”, days after Belgrade allowed work to resume at a controversial lithium mining project.
The memorandum of understanding will be signed during a summit attended by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and European Commission Vice-President Maros Sefcovic in the capital Belgrade.
Lithium is a strategically valuable metal vital to the manufacture of electric vehicle batteries, making it key to helping Germany’s top auto industry shift to greener production.
Serbia has huge lithium deposits near the western city of Loznica, where a controversial mining project run by Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto has been a perennial political rift in the Balkan country in recent years.
The government gave the mining project the green light to restart operations earlier this week, after the 2022 revoking of permits granted to Rio Tinto following mass protests over environmental concerns.
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The announcement came after Serbia’s constitutional court ruled last week that the license cancellations “were not in accordance with the constitution and the law”, clearing the way for the government to continue the project.
Vucic, whose party won parliamentary elections in December, said environmental protection would be a priority after fresh assurances were received from the company.
“An important working day is ahead of us, a day that will greatly affect many aspects of our country’s future and give a strong impetus to the strengthening of relations between Serbia and Germany,” Vucic said on Friday in a social media post. with his photo. and Scholz in a government complex in Belgrade.
Rio Tinto said Serbia’s lithium reserves in Loznica could produce about 58,000 tonnes a year, enough for 1.1 million electric vehicles.
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However, opponents remain concerned about the mine’s effects on the environment and public health.
Critics of the mine have long accused the Vucic government of having a poor record of regulating its industrial sector.
Protesters also say the country is taking on the biggest environmental risks with the mine for the sake of the EU’s transition to a green economy.
Lithium deposits near Loznitsa were discovered in 2004, but weeks of protests fueled by environmental and public health fears forced the government to halt the project.
Vucic hinted that Serbia could start mining lithium as early as 2028.
Ahead of the meeting, Vucic said the deal would include guarantees that would limit the sale of raw materials from the country and ensure that most lithium exports would be through Serbian-made batteries or components.
Serbia has been a candidate for EU membership since 2012, but its prospects are seen as bleak without normalization of relations with Kosovo.
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“The partnership will further strengthen political relations and promote long-term economic growth in Serbia and the EU, contributing to Serbia’s efforts to join the EU,” the Serbian government said in a statement Thursday about the deal.
Source: AFP