The article has been updated.
On 4 June, the European Commission recognised a highly controversial lithium mining Jadar project in Serbia among 13 new strategic projects related to critical raw materials in third countries. The project, submitted by the international mining company Rio Tinto, has still not been approved by the Serbian institutions. However, it could not have been recognised as strategic by the European Commission without the consent of the Serbian authorities.
“The selected Strategic Projects will benefit from coordinated support by the Commission, Member States and financial institutions in the form of facilitating access to finance and contacts with relevant off-takers”, reads the press release of the European Commission.
Upon the announcement of the list of 13 strategic projects, Stéphane Séjourné, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, stated that they “will help to reduce Europe’s dependencies, contribute to our economic security while creating growth, jobs and export opportunities in the countries concerned”.
Reacting to the decision, Rio Tinto stated that “this confirms that the project can be developed according to the EU standards”.
“This decision further confirms that the Jadar Project meets standards of technical feasibility, as well as environmental protection, social responsibility, and governance”, Rio Tinto stated in a press release.
Speaker of the Assembly of Serbia Ana Brnabić, who was visiting Brussels on Wednesday, said that the European Commission’s decision was “great news” and that the Jadar project would create 20,000 new jobs and raise the living standards of Serbian citizens. President Aleksandar Vučić has not commented on the decision as of Thursday.
Meanwhile, opposition parties, which have all previously expressed opposition to the project, criticised the Commission’s decision, stressing that it would be hazardous for health and the environment and assessing that there is a lack of rule of law in Serbia.
Two waves of protests against the project
Since 2020, Serbian authorities have intensified efforts to launch the Rio Tinto project in the Jadar region. In February 2020, the government adopted a Decree on approving the spatial plan for a special-purpose area for the exploitation and processing of the jadarite mineral. This decree was repealed following mass protests in December 2021. The citizens cited environmental and health concerns and distrust in state institutions to enforce the necessary standards.
Nevertheless, the work on the project continued. A Memorandum of Understanding, signed in 2024 by Serbian authorities and European Commission Vice President Maroš Šefčovič in the presence of the then German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, launched a Strategic Partnership on sustainable raw materials, battery value chains, and electric vehicles, which paved the way to this month’s EC decision.
Last July, the Government’s repeal of the spatial plan necessary for the project was controversially struck down by the Constitutional Court, in a decision critics believe was made under political influence. This marked a public attempt to relaunch the project. Subsequently, another wave of mass protests against lithium mining was held over the summer.
In October 2024, all opposition MPs in the National Assembly proposed amendments to the Law on Mining and Geological Research, seeking to ban lithium and boron exploration and exploitation. The proposal was not adopted, as the ruling majority voted against it.
The possibility for the Jadar project to be recognised as strategic by the EU, entailing standards in environmental protection, has been used as an argument by proponents of the project, in contrast to a significant portion of the public that opposes it.
However, although lithium mining has not been a dominant public issue in recent months, due to the ongoing student protests, there are no signs that public opposition to the project has diminished.
What’s next after the EC decision?
As soon as the decision was announced, numerous anti-EU politicians and commentators reacted harshly, accusing the Union of treating Serbia as a “mining colony”. Nevertheless, the ultimate decision of whether or not Rio Tinto will receive the permit will be made by the domestic institutions, and the process is still ongoing.
As the EC confirmed to our portal in July of last year, “in the event that the Commission declares a project strategic, the competent authorities in the countries where the projects would be implemented are not obligated to issue permits to the developers.”
In November 2024, the Ministry of Environmental Protection issued a Decision on the scope and content of the Environmental Impact Assessment Study for the mining part of the Jadar project. From that point, Rio Tinto has one year to submit the Study to the Ministry, after which it will be evaluated by a technical commission. This is one of the necessary steps to obtain final approval from the Ministry of Mining and Energy.
Jadar was declared a strategic project along with 13 other projects outside the EU, including those from the United Kingdom, Norway, Brazil, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan. Recognising projects in the area of critical raw materials as strategic is regulated by the Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA), which came into force in May 2024.
Among other things, the CRMA allows for the recognition of strategic projects both within and outside the EU, which means that these projects benefit from a simplified and accelerated procedure for obtaining necessary permits within the EU, as well as support in securing the financial resources required for their implementation.
According to CRMA rules, the EU can only designate a project as strategic if it meets certain conditions, including that it is “technically feasible and implemented in a sustainable manner, particularly in terms of monitoring, preventing, and minimizing environmental impacts, and preventing and minimizing negative societal consequences.”
If the Commission determines that a project no longer meets the criteria to be considered strategic, it can revoke this status.