Vucevic: Guarantees of environmental protection prerequisite for lithium mining

BELGRADE - Serbian PM Milos Vucevic said on Thursday guarantees of environmental protection would be a prerequisite for lithium mining in Serbia and noted that a country's political position was impacted by its overall natural resources and economic potential.

Speaking to K1 TV, Vucevic said lithium would enable Serbia to be independent of the EU and change the situation the country was in.

Once they found oil, Arab states gained a "completely different configuration in geopolitical relations," he said.

"I think that would change us and make us more independent, because I think we had Trepca (a zinc and lead mine) in Kosovo as an argument, but we did not know how to use it. We might have had something we could have used in a different way," Vucevic said.

He said lithium mining would bring economic betterment to Serbia in the form of opening of electric car and battery factories and added that, in case Mercedes came to Serbia with an electric vehicle plant, Serbia's position would be changed as it would avoid sanctions or bombings in the future.

He said that, for lithium mining to go ahead, Serbian authorities would insist on clear guarantees regarding its impact on human health and the environment to ensure there is no pollution of air and water.

Vucevic noted that, contrarily to a widespread narrative in Serbia that Germany did not want to mine lithium at home but in Serbia, Germany was preparing to open two or three lithium mines in its own territory.