European lawmaker Hildegaard Bentele believes that Jadar is “crucial for Serbia, it’s crucial for the EU, it’s crucial for the whole automotive sector.” Bentele, who represents Germany’s Christian Democrats, serves as the European Parliament’s representative on an advisory panel that reviews CRMA strategic projects with the European Commission.
But for many in Serbia, the Jadar project now symbolizes the EU’s alignment with a mining giant at the expense of public concerns — prioritizing Germany’s industrial interests and the bloc’s race to close the EV gap with a dominant China. Meanwhile, popular mistrust has led many locals to believe that only the politicians will benefit. (Serbia’s score is the lowest within the Western Balkans in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index.)
“There is absolutely no place for lithium mining in a fertile valley, with sources of spring water, groundwater, a valley that feeds people, where farmers have tilled land for seven or eight generations,” said Bojana Novaković, leader of environmental NGO Marš sa Drine (March on the Drina).
If poorly managed, lithium extraction could contaminate groundwater reserves and farmland vital to the Jadar valley’s predominantly agricultural community, green critics contend.
Nebojša Petković from the Ne Damo Jadar (We Won’t Surrender Jadar) association, who describes himself as pro-European, believes the EU isn’t interested in Serbia’s becoming a member. He accused the bloc of only caring about its own profits: “They want to turn us into their resource base and [a] landfill of Europe,” he said, branding the mine a strategic project to “destroy” Serbia.
Rio Tinto insists the mine won’t pose the same environmental risks as others, because it will use dry rather than liquid waste storage methods. Mining waste, known as tailings, typically consists of fine rock particles, water, and sometimes chemicals — raising concerns about potential leaks or dam collapses.
The EU is now increasingly pressuring Serbia to align more clearly with its interests. The bells are ringing on resource cronyism, where state and corporate interests converge while the public is shut out of the debate.
“I honestly believe it’s political suicide to give this project the time of day and to keep pushing out for any, any kind of political faction within Serbia particularly, but also Europe, because I’ve never seen a project with this much dissent against it,” said Novaković of Marš sa Drine.
Serbia’s aspiration to join the EU now hangs in the balance of the bloc’s push for raw materials. Mining colony or not, the Western Balkan country faces further chaos amidst its instability.
For the full article go to Politico.
