Photo: Ne damo Jadar
Following the ruling of the Constitutional Court of Serbia last week that the decree that annulled the Jadar project in 2022 was unconstitutional, the Government of Serbia issued a new decree, reinstating the status of Rio Tinto’s proposed investment that the company had before.
Project Jadar for a lithium mine and processing plant in Serbia hit a wall in January 2022, but now it is back on track.
Citizens have protested and blocked roads for several months since late 2021, claiming the investment would severely damage the country. It prompted the government to annul all permits. Still, Rio Tinto has kept working in the background while state authorities left the door open for a reversal.
The new decree is a measure to reinstate the legal order in the form from before the unconstitutional decree on Rio Tinto’s Jadar project, according to the Government of Serbia
Last week the Constitutional Court of Serbia declared unconstitutional and unlawful a government decree from January 2022 that abolished the local special purpose spatial plan. The site is in the country’s west, near the city of Loznica.
No time to lose in project Jadar
The Government of Serbia reacted swiftly and issued another decree today. It said that the original spatial plan is coming into force again and that it is introducing measures to reinstate the legal order in the form from before the annulment. The aim is to implement the ruling, the statement reads.
The authorities didn’t dare to revive the Jadar project until the completion of two rounds of snap elections, according to Savo Manojlović from the opposition Kreni-promeni movement
Savo Manojlović from the opposition Kreni-promeni (Go-Change) movement claimed that the authorities didn’t dare to revive the Jadar project until completing two rounds of snap elections.
“Instead of its own people, the authorities chose to serve a foreign company – Rio Tinto. It’s the authorities that trampled on their own country’s constitution, occupied the institutions and turned into a prostitute for a foreign factor that will be responsible for any disorder and social conflict,” Manojlović stated on social network X.
Another local environmentalist group, Zaštitimo Jadar i Rađevinu, asked whether Prime Minister Miloš Vučević has declared war against the people of Serbia.
“Miloš Vučević decided to issue again the decree on the spatial plan for the Jadar project, which is illegal. It was done without public debate, without a strategic impact assessment…” the organization said.
Turbulence in runup to new decree
Over the past months, top Serbian officials have been advocating more and more for the continuation of the Jadar project. Additionally, Rio Tinto published what it called preliminary drafts of environmental impact assessment studies.
On July 8, seven people were arrested and criminally charged in Loznica for blocking the railroad. Among them were Zlatko Kokanović and Nebojša Petković from Ne damo Jadar. The group is from the Gornje Nedeljice village, the site of Rio Tinto’s planned mine.
Some Serbian media have reported that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen are about to visit the country for discussions including lithium mining and even the establishment of a strategic partnership. It would be modeled under the framework of the EU’s controversial Critical Raw Materials Act – CRMA.
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