Sasa Dragojlo Belgrade BIRN September 7, 2021
Rio Tinto’s projected lithium mining project in Serbia is a backward step in terms of the ‘green transition’ Europe needs to make, MEP Thomas Waitz tells BIRN in an interview.
Thomas Waitz is an organic permaculture farmer, a beekeeper, a forester, a long time environmental and peace activist, but also a co-chair of the European Green Party and an Austrian MEP in the European Parliament.
He recently visited Serbia because, he said, environmental topics have finally reached the public debate there, along with the rise of new green political options.
“There are more and more [Serbian] civil initiatives standing up for civil rights and social justice, but also for environmental causes. And that is all very encouraging development and, linked to that, we also have new political mobilization happening, not just in Serbia, but in the surrounding countries,” Waitz told BIRN in an interview.
