Mass protests are expected across Serbia this weekend in response to the new EU and Serbian lithium mining deal, signed a few weeks ago. Is history just repeating itself for Serbia?
Category
đ
NewsTranscript
00:00Has the German government learned its lesson from North Stream 2?
00:05Apparently, yes.
00:06German Chancellor Olaf Scholz paid a surprise visit to Belgrade a few weeks ago
00:11to sign a major lithium mining deal with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic
00:16in a bid to reduce the EU's dependency on China.
00:20Germany has ambitions to build 15 million electric vehicles by 2030
00:26and keep its automobile industry afloat, which the German economy is largely dependent upon.
00:32But widespread protests are planned across Serbia this weekend
00:37with more than half of the Serbian population rejecting plans to mine in the Idar Valley.
00:43These plans are not only controversial due to the environmental cost of mining
00:48but also because of the politics.
00:50EU countries such as Austria, Portugal and the Czech Republic
00:54have large quantities of lithium in them.
00:57So it seems that the EU just wants to keep the dirty work outside of its own backyard.
01:02Liv Stroud, in Berlin, for Euronews.