Environmental Uprising: Vucic’s, Scholz’s MOU a Death Sentence for Jadar Village

Aleksandar Jovanovic Cuta (BETAPHOTO/EMIL VAS)

Aleksandar Jovanovic, an MP and the leader of the Environmental Uprising movement, said on July 19 that the memorandum of understanding signed by EU and Serbia regarding a strategic partnership on sustainable raw materials, battery production chains and electric vehicles represents “a death sentence” for the village of Gornje Nedeljice and the other settlements in the Loznica area whose population is supposed to be displaced due to the planned lithium mine.

Speaking for BETA in the vicinity of New Belgrade’s Palace of Serbia, where the day’s Summit on Serbia’s Critical Raw Materials and the signing of the MOU took place, Jovanovic stated that the fallout of the Jadar Project – i.e. the mining of lithium in the Jadar River Valley – will “unfold on the ground,” as was the case when the authorities attempted to build mini hydropower plants on Mt. Stara Planina and were ultimately unsuccessful due to vehement pushback from locals and environmentalists.

Jovanovic publicly addressed Vucic, asking what the president thinks he is doing when the people expect him to protect them, and stressed that Jadar Project documentation clearly requests the relocation of certain settlements in the Loznica area.

He went on to say that the Environmental Uprising will fight to protect Gornje Nedeljice, using “military tactics” if need be, but refused to go into details.

Although the Environmental Uprising’s press conference was scheduled to take place in front of the Palace of Serbia, anti-terrorist units prevented the public from approaching the building, forcing the conference to relocate to an area adjacent to the Palace.