The European Union placed a strategic bet on Serbia’s lithium reserves to fuel its ambitious shift to electric vehicles. What it ended up getting in return were dirty politics and an environmental backlash so severe it is poisoning the Balkan nation’s relations with Brussels and blighting its aspirations to join the bloc.
Serbia’s Jadar lithium deposit is estimated to contain enough of the soft, white metal to power 1 million EVs and cater to up to 25 percent of Europe’s demand, placing the continent’s largest lithium deposit at the heart of EU efforts to secure supplies of the critical raw materials needed to transition away from fossil fuels.
No wonder, then, that a project to mine the deposit, developed by global giant Rio Tinto, stands to secure crucial backing from Brussels under the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), which aims to reduce the bloc’s heavy reliance on China for essential resources.
Yet intense resistance to the project from Serbs, who worry about environmental damage and accuse their political leaders of corruption and cronyism, threatens to undermine support for EU membership that runs at around 40 percent.
