The EU is keeping its EV dream alive with a deal to build a giant lithium mine in Serbia. Environmentalists, however, are not happy, but furious.
Yes, we need to save the world and the EU overlords have decided that this must be done via EVs. One of the problems is: for all those batteries you (still) need lithium. And that lithium, for now 97 percent comes from China. In the past we were dependent on sometimes questionable regimes for oil. And now we are for lithium. Do the math.
Moreover, mining lithium is not exactly the cleanest and neatest business in the world. Such a gigantic mine is a guarantee for environmental damage. Also, the working conditions are not always responsible if you ask the occupational health and safety service. It is also annoying for people with a bipolar disorder; their medicine becomes more expensive and sometimes less available.
Climate God
But well, everything must give way to the climate god. And so the EU has now made a deal with Serbia, to develop a slushy lithium mine. Serbia has been an EU candidate since 2012. But the country also maintains good relations with China and Russia. There was still talk of fraud in the elections last year. So becoming a full member of the EU seems far away in principle. Unless of course there is a lubricant.
President Vucic hopes of course that this deal will be that. He is already calling for European car manufacturers such as Mercedes, Volkswagen and Stellantis to be able to get their lithium from Serbia from now on. The mining company Rio Tinto is to operate the mine. The intention is to extract 58 thousand tons of lithium per year. That is enough lithium for 1.1 million electric cars.
Controversial in Serbia, especially among…environmental knights?
So you would think that environmental knights would be jumping up and down with joy. But nothing could be further from the truth. There is a lot of resistance to the mine, especially from environmental clubs in Serbia. They are afraid of the necessary cutting of forests and polluted groundwater. The Serbian ‘GroenLinks’ tells the BBC:
We fear that Serbia will be sacrificed to provide lithium for electric vehicles that pretty much nobody in Serbia can afford
Serbian Jesse Klaver
A striking detail is that the Serbian government had actually stopped the construction of the mine because of concerns about the impact on the environment. And because of protests from citizens. But the Serbian constitutional court recently decided that this decision was ‘premature’. The government had ‘gone beyond its authority’. And now the mine is coming after all.
EU bigwigs celebrate, citizens are furious
At the announcement, the bigwigs, including Bundeskansler Olaf Scholz, Vice President of the European Commission Maros Sefcovic and President Vucic were very happy. They spoke nice words about the environment and the future of Europe and Serbia. The green deal can go ahead again. However, one Serbian citizen is not sharing in the celebration. He told DW:
Cars for Europe, batteries for the Chinese and landfills, diseases, cancer and who knows what else for the Serbs.
the same color
Whose deed.
