Note from LeftEast editors: This interview was originally published by Portal Novosti, on September 12, 2024. Translation by Sonja Dragović.
Rio Tinto has become a symbol of the influence of foreign corporations on Serbian society, which is indeed enormous, and this can be attributed to the role played by President Aleksandar Vučić and the entire Serbian Progressive Party (SNS). This is literally the story of a company and a ruler ganging up on the people of their country, and it could serve as an example for other countries across Europe, writes Aleksandar Matković, a research fellow at the Institute of Economic Sciences in Belgrade and member of the Green-Left Front.
Tena Erceg: In your text in Danas, you dismantle the government’s claim that lithium mining will bring huge economic benefits to Serbia. You told me that you were surprised that such a “dry” text provoked such a violent reaction from the state. Why do you think this happened?
Aleksandar Matković: I wrote the text to present “dry” data because that is the strongest argument. Based on data from the National Bank of Serbia, it has been shown that over the last ten years foreign investment in the Serbian mining sector skyrocketed exactly when the government announced the cancelation of the Rio Tinto project. Not only was the project not canceled, but payments into the sector increased six-fold and reached an all-time high, with Rio Tinto responsible for more than 50 percent of the investment. This clearly shows the contradiction between words and deeds. It also calls for an explanation from both the company and the government. I have focused on the issue of colonization because almost every citizen has felt exactly that. One in four Serbian citizens works for a foreign company, which perhaps explains why this issue resonates so strongly with the public. Rio Tinto has become a symbol of the influence of foreign companies on Serbian society, enabled by Aleksandar Vučić and the entire SNS. Their economic policy towards foreign investors is indeed crucial because they have put us in a peripheral position by closing domestic companies, privatizing banks and adopting a submissive attitude towards foreign companies. If our policy of subsidizing foreign investors, giving away land, and taking over workers’ wages continues, Serbia will literally be pushed into a situation in which it will be absolutely dependent on a single company. My article was published in the run-up to mass protests against such an approach, which most citizens see embodied in Rio Tinto, especially after German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s visit to Serbia and the agreements signed with companies such as Mercedes, InoBat, Stellantis, and others. I believe that the government has lost patience and has unleashed a wave of violence against activists and scientists, which is now taking the form of systematic repression.
The Reality of the “Economic Tiger”
T. E.: Can you briefly outline your argument that the lithium project will not benefit the citizens of Serbia, as the government claims, but that it will also be harmful in various ways?
A. M.: Firstly, the data shows that despite a six-fold increase in foreign mining investment, the standard of living in Serbia has not improved. That is the central argument. I have also shown that domestic resource extraction is increasing due to increased mining, with more and more material being extracted, and that mining waste has increased by 150 percent, 90 percent of which is a hazardous, biologically active waste. In fact, most of the waste in Serbia comes from mining, especially copper mining, and any increase in capacity has a direct impact on the environment and people. In the meantime, we become dependent on the price fluctuations in the European market, while Vučić tells us that we live in an “economic tiger.” The same applies to steel production in Smederevo and, more generally, to our heavy industry. That is why I raised the question of the actual impact of foreign investment on our GDP because foreign investment does not contribute as much as Vučić likes to claim. In other words, due to our government’s hectic policy of pandering to foreign capital, Serbia has actually stagnated, and its dependency on foreign companies has grown. This is demonstrated by the government’s attempt in 2021 to amend the Expropriation Law to allow the state to take away your house without justification and to allow Rio Tinto to confiscate land in Gornje Nedeljice. In other words, our government has even started to change its laws to the detriment of the local population so that a foreign company can acquire land more easily. This rapid extractivism requires legal adjustments that will make the green transition dangerous if carried out as Vučić does, all in the name of Europe. In this scenario, any foreign power can do whatever it wants on the Serbian side of the green transition as long as Vučić gives it the green light and subsidies in return for employing party loyalists. This is literally the story of a company and a ruler ganging up on the people of their country, and I fear that it could serve as an example for other countries in Europe.
T. E.: What is the importance of mining in Serbia for Vučić’s government, both in terms of internal politics and geopolitics, and how does this policy enable him to consolidate power?
A. M.: First, it allows him to become part of the European electric vehicle production chain and he hopes that this will give him some leverage in Europe and help him stay in power, knowing that he could easily be ousted if he fails to achieve this. In terms of domestic politics, Vučić has put Serbia in a precarious position and his resignation is likely to be followed by a period of uncertainty. However, the SNS remains strong, with 750,000 members a few years ago and probably almost a million today. He keeps the party together mainly through employment opportunities in public companies and foreign factories, with each job creating more space for the SNS as long as the party has links to big employers. This is the model of how foreign investment and the SNS work in unison, with subsidies propping it up, especially those that support job creation.
T. E.: Why do you think this Rio Tinto project is an example of what the literature defines as “technological momentum,” and what are the possible consequences of such a project for Serbia?
A. M.: Having invested more than two billion euros in Serbia, Rio Tinto is desperate to see results and is prepared to fight for the project by any means necessary. Judging by Vučić’s behavior, the interests of both sides are the same. Although the Jadar project envisages mining using known technologies, the mineral “jadarite” found here is unique and requires multiple processing methods, including the separation of boron and lithium as well as other by-products, all in a densely populated area, which makes it unique in the world. Once “momentum” is created by investing in such a specific project, interests will deepen and will in turn attract new actors with further interests around the mine as people become increasingly dependent on it and the investor has no alternative destination other than the Jadar project as this specific mineral is only found here. If the mine goes ahead, it will not only increase income inequality, as is typical of mines, but could also deepen existing social tensions, which in turn means that the use of the repressive apparatus will have to be expanded—something we are already experiencing. This is how a mining investment gains “momentum” and starts to engulf an entire society by way of particular interests that it creates on all sides.
The Role of the EU
T. E.: You argue that Serbia is experiencing an “absolute fusion of green transition and authoritarianism.” Could you elaborate on this and explain how you see the role of the European Union in this constellation?
AM: The EU is trying to reduce its dependency on Chinese lithium and sees Serbia as a lifeline. At the same time, the German car industry is trying to recover from its crisis through lithium battery-powered electric vehicles, which directs them to lithium-rich countries such as Serbia or Portugal. That is why the German Greens support lithium. The EU Parliament will soon decide whether to classify Jadar as a strategic project, and Scholz has probably rushed to sign the agreements with Serbia for this reason. However, there is internal resistance within the EU, among local residents and organizations, and even in the European Parliament. I believe this is a good basis for future efforts. Regardless of what we think of the EU, the only way forward is to dismantle this style of governance that favors the corporations in the central countries. The fight of the periphery will become a fight against corporate Europe if the corporations start to exploit this periphery even more. I think there are already signs of this, such as in Mario Draghi’s recently published EU Competitiveness Report, in which he outlines a future vision of the European Union with a foreign policy focused on “resource-rich countries.” Although this is currently only a vision and a proposal, Draghi is actually articulating what the EU Commissioners are thinking. Furthermore, the EU is actually influencing the climate and energy plans of peripheral countries, from Chile to Serbia, through trade agreements, meaning that this process is already underway.
T. E.: You and other activists, journalists, and scientists face serious threats. How many people are affected, what methods are being used, and, most importantly, what impact do you think this repression will have on the movement against lithium mining?
A. M.: Around 60 activists were targeted individually across Serbia, according to the organizers of a recent protest by the organization “Eko Straža,” which was asked for support. The worst case involved Zorana Crnojević, who was five months pregnant when anti-terrorist units raided her home because she was the administrator of the Facebook group called “Activism,” which published supportive posts for other imprisoned and harassed activists. Some of my friends and acquaintances received phone threats that they would be thrown into rivers; I received anonymous threats on Telegram and Facebook; some were arrested, and others had gangs show up at their homes. In some cases, people who had no direct connection to the protests were targeted, suggesting that the authorities are afraid and unsure of who the organizers are and are willing to turn on their own citizens to protect a foreign corporation. Then came the so-called Registry of Ecological Terrorists, where our photos, personal details, education, and jobs were published, with some even revealing their sexual orientation. Pro-government media such as Informer published false articles about me, claiming that I was “relaxing in Split and hating Serbia.” Basically, the government, or rather its repressive apparatus, is now after us with everything it has. I hope this will unite us in a common struggle that will slowly spread beyond Serbia and the Balkans. Considering that Volkswagen workers in Wolfsburg are already on strike over the closure of plants in Germany, making it clear that Volkswagen may not survive the green transition, it is clear that the car industry, once a symbol of the 20th century, is not a viable option. Italian GKN workers have even drawn up plans to shift production from luxury cars to solar panels and cargo bikes, signaling that workers can have an impact on their own companies. A “true” green transition is not for a select few, but for the masses, and if it is not for the masses, it will not happen. Therefore, what is happening in Serbia is a turning point that shows that an alternative green transition is possible, with democratic relations between countries at its core. That is what we need to protect, and I think that different countries and groups are now showing that such an alternative is feasible. Otherwise, we face a literal and metaphorical hell: rising temperatures and the entanglement of authoritarianism and green transition, the direction of which now depends on us.
Aleksandar Matković is a research fellow at the Institute of Economic Sciences in Belgrade and a member of the Green-Left Front. He is active in the movement against lithium mining by the multinational company Rio Tinto. On August 11, 2024, he published an open letter in the newspaper Danas about the “transformation of Serbia into a mining colony.” Since then, he has received constant threats, but nevertheless spoke at a protest event in Belgrade on September 1, 2024.