Germany Eyes Europe’s Largest Lithium Reserves in Serbia

On 10 December 2024, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic arrived in Germany for a state visit. As part of the agenda, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz specially scheduled a visit to the Saxon Mining Authority in Freiburg. The objective is to put the projector on ‘sustainable lithium development’ to pave the way for German investment into Serbian lithium mining as the EU is phasing out vehicles with Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) vehicles for New Energy Vehicles (#NEV).

In July 2024, EU and Serbia have signed an MoU over the largest known lithium mine in Serbia. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz praised the deal as a key step to derisk the Global Supply Chain (#GSC) for #CriticalMinerals needed for future industries.

The signature ceremony took place during the Critical Raw Materials Summit 2024 in Serbia which Chancellor Scholz attended. The MoU covers strategic partnership between Serbia and EU on sustainable raw materials, battery supply chains and electric vehicles (#EV).

“This is an important European project that is necessary for Europe to remain sovereign in a changing world and not be dependent on others, which is why new sources of raw materials should be discovered.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz

Currently, Germany is the largest vehicle producer and exporter in Europe. By securing and diversifying its source for #lithium, Germany hopes to reduce over-reliance on China. China processes nearly two-thirds of the world’s lithium and produces more than 75% of the lithium batteries worldwide.

However, the deal is expected to encounter fierce opposition from environmentalist groups. Just recently, the Serbian court stopped a USD 2.4 billion #FDI by global mining giant Rio Tinto to exploit a lithium mine in the valley of Jadar, where the largest reserves of lithium deposits in Europe are located.

“This day fills me with great hope for our country. This will be a turning point and a big change and a quantum leap into the future of Serbia.”

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic

Serbian President Vucic had to intervene to provide assurances that the highest ecological standards will apply and automakers will have to come to Serbia to make EV, rather than Serbia simply exporting raw materials so that local communities are protected and derive full economic benefits.

It is worth noting that Serbia has sought to join the #EU while at the same time maintaining close ties with Russia and China. Observers note that if the deal goes through, it could nudge Serbia closer to the EU.