Serbian environmental protests

BELGRADE - Once it is in place, the Jadar lithium mining project will provide batteries for more than a million electric vehicles per year and add 1-3 pct to Serbia's GDP, US Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment Jose Fernandez said in Belgrade on Thursday.

BELGRADE - Serbian Parliament Speaker Ana Brnabic said on Tuesday she was not working for a private company but in the interest of the citizens of Serbia and that she was not trying to get away from decisions she had made as PM in 2017 and 2022 regarding a lithium mining project in Serbia.

VALJEVO - Serbian Parliament Speaker Ana Brnabic said in Valjevo on Friday she believed Rio Tinto's Jadar lithium mining project was good for Serbia economically as well as when it comes to accelerating the country's green transition.

Protesters block the E-75 highway in Belgrade, Serbia, 27 November 2021. Anti-government demonstrators blocked roads and bridges in Serbia to protest against new laws they say favor interests of foreign investors devastating the environment. EPA-EFE/ANDREJ CUKIC

First time lucky

Brnabic told Happy TV that it was "unbelievable" that the people from that initiative, who, as she stated, said they were in favor of legality and constitutionality, proposed something like that.

After Serbia's government on Wednesday revoked a key decree greenlighting Rio Tinto's controversial lithium mining project, activists said they did not trust government promises that the mining project is over for good, fearing what might happen after elections in April.

"We have the requests of environmental organizations. These are the requests that were submitted to the Government on January 12, 2022," the Prime Minister said at a press conference immediately after the government session.
At the final session, the Government Decree on the spatial plan was revoked, Brnabi pointed out.