Lithium is as important for mobility in the future as oil has been so far, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Friday.
Addressing the Summit on Critical Raw Materials in Serbian capital Belgrade, Scholz said:
“We need lithium and I am convinced that it is important for future mobility.”
Serbia and the European Union signed a memorandum of understanding on strategic partnership in the field of environmentally friendly raw materials, battery and electric vehicle production chains in the presence of Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Scholz.
Adding that it is a turning point for the future, Scholz said:
“This project (Jadar lithium extraction project by the Anglo-Australian multinational mining company, Rio Tinto) creates new production chain potentials, jobs, not only when it comes to mining, but also in other processing steps.”
Scholz and Maroš Sefčovič, vice-president of the European Commission in charge of the European Green Deal, who signed the memorandum with Serbia on behalf of the EU, attended the summit.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said the project could add up to 4 per cent to the country’s GDP, but it faces fierce protests from local residents and environmentalists.
The Kreni-Promeni activist group plans to block a number of railways in August if the project is not stopped. The environmental protests are linked to concerns about the impact on nature and population density.
Europe’s largest lithium deposit project halted
In early July this year, Serbia’s constitutional court overturned a decision to halt a $2.4 billion mining project in the west of the country in the Jadar Valley, home to Europe’s largest lithium deposit.
Earlier in an interview with Handelsblatt newspaper, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said that Belgrade would develop Europe’s largest lithium deposit with Germany and the European Union, not China. He linked high hopes for the development of the Serbian economy and accelerating the country’s integration into the EU to the project.
Meanwhile, Mercedes-Benz has expressed interest in utilising lithium from Serbia and supporting the expansion of the battery supply chain in the country.
