Serbia's lithium gamble Reviving Rio Tinto's mine amidst protests and economic promises

The Balkan nation has extensive deposits of lithium, which is an important component of batteries for electric vehicles, and the government sees the mine as a way to boost the country’s economy.  According to sources, "the Jadar project was designed as the largest lithium mine in Europe, which would potentially meet up to 90% of the lithium demand in Europe." Some projections of annual GDP growth propelled by the mine go up to €12bn, which would be a critical boost to an economy where GDP per capita was less than 50 per cent of the EU average in 2023. The EU, itself in need of lithium and other “green transition” materials, would stand to benefit massively from  the success of the mining project. It has, in fact, signed an MoU with Serbia, to ensure its interests. 

In 2019, the EU launched its Green Deal, aiming to establish a leading green technology industry through substantial fiscal and financial investments, with the goal of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. Central to this initiative is the Green Deal Industrial Plan (GDIP), introduced by the European Commission President in 2023, and supported by two key legislative components: the Net Zero Industry Act (NZIA), and the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA). Both were adopted in 2024, and sought to secure the EU’s access to critical raw materials like copper and lithium,  which are essential for green technologies. The CRMA addresses the EU's significant challenge of import dependency on these materials, critical for building a green industrial base. To do so, the CRMA mandates the EU to (i) build comprehensive strategic partnerships with supplier countries, backed up by concrete roadmaps for increasing and diversifying supplies; (ii) secure new trade and investment treaties with resource rich countries that are key trading partners for the EU, and (iii) mobilise public money to promote public-private partnerships (i.e. through the Global Gateway). 

The EU and Serbia signed a Memorandum of Understanding on 19 of July 2024 as part of the EU’s strategy to secure access to materials and minerals with strategic relevance from countries outside the EU. The MoU on “Strategic Partnership on sustainable raw materials, battery value chains and electric vehicles (EVs)” is a non-binding agreement where partners express their mutual interest to work together to secure a “sustainable supply of raw materials”. The MoU was signed by the Executive Vice-President for the European Green Deal, Interinstitutional Relations and Foresight of the European Commission, Maroš Šefčovič and the Minister of Mining and Energy of the Republic of Serbia, Dubravka Đedovič Handanović. Similar to other MoUs, this was signed by a non-elected official in the EU and in a non-official event, in this case the signing ceremony took place during the High-Level Summit on critical raw materials in Belgrade. 

So far, the EU has signed 13 Strategic Partnerships on raw materials, with all of them presented as mutually beneficial for the signing parties. However, these joint partnerships are mainly about “facilitating business opportunities” to EU investors in the partner countries by ensuring an enabling environment for their investments. According to the text, the partnership should facilitate the alignment of policies and ensure that regulations do not create barriers to the supply of raw materials or EVs to the EU and help identify financial and investment de-risking instruments. 

The Global Gateway, announced in 2021, is a public-private initiative to fund investment projects in third countries in some new form of international cooperation, completely guided by economic interests of the EU. To raise the necessary funds, ‘team Europe’ is counting strongly on private investment, which it is trying to attract with tender and grant opportunities, combined with loans from development finance institutions (DFIs). So far, the only Global Gateway project announced is the Trans-Balkan Electricity Corridor. The MoU mentions other Investment Platforms such as Invest EU, the Western Balkans Investment Framework and the European Battery Alliance. 

The MoU mentions the need to minimize environmental impacts and ensure benefits for local communities by “implementing best available techniques” and only mentions the application of guidelines and best practices such as the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct, which is a self-regulated and voluntary guideline for enterprises to follow.  It mentions “early consultation” on new legislative and non-regulatory initiatives proposed within the framework of the Partnership and exchange of information on best practices. There is no binding instrument that guarantees the obligations of transnational corporations and investors to respect Human Rights. On the contrary, the huge increase in demand also means a rush into opening new mining projects for the purpose of the energy transition. This is particularly dangerous considering that mining is already a very conflict-prone sector, a tendency likely to increase with an intensified quest for raw materials to keep up in the international race towards a ‘cleantech’ capitalism.

In six months’ time the signatories should develop a Strategic Partnership Roadmap to identify clear actions to implement the MoU. This is followed by a working group composed of senior officials that will meet every year to review the next steps. According to the text of the MoU, the concrete activities will be mainly workshops, technical assistance, research on technology and best practices and the facilitation of contacts/participation for new investments opportunities. There is no independent body established to monitor the activities developed under their scope. 

That this MoU was signed despite the clear and vigorous resistance of Serbian citizens makes it imperative to ask whose interests it serves. Some activists, like TNI associate Aleksandar Matković, have argued that citizens have not seen the benefits of increased investments in mining, and that the EU is turning Serbia into a mining colony for the EU; a form of green colonialism. They have instead called for more investment in public transport and infrastructure rather than the increased use of lithium for electric vehicle batteries. It is yet to be seen which vision of Serbia’s future will prevail, but for now, the will of the Serbian people is loud and clear: “There will be no mines”.