A few short days after the world's best tennis player Novak Đoković was shamefully deported from Melbourne, the Government of Serbia made a decision to take the project worth hundreds of millions of dollars away from the Australian company

Rio Tinto is leaving Serbia! All the decisions and legal acts related to this company have been cancelled, PM Ana Brnabić said yesterday after a Serbian government meeting.

A few short days after the world's best tennis player Novak Đoković was shamefully deported from Melbourne, the Government of Serbia made a decision to take the project worth hundreds of millions of dollars away from the Australian company.

"The jadarite mine exploitation decree has been cancelled, and the spatial plan has been cancelled, there is no spatial plan anymore. This cancels all the permits and decisions relating to the company Rio Sava. As far as I can remember, in 2006, when Rio Tinto obtained the permit from the authorities, it was the Democratic Party that was in power, and Boris Tadić was President. Today, the very same people are blocking the traffic, even the border crossings," PM said.

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Foto: Kurir

She said that she did not understand, if the protests in question were environmental in nature, why it is that they did not ask Nebojša the Green Zelenović why they issued the permit and brought Rio Tinto to Serbia, even as they are trying to build their political future on the back of that.

"I call on all the environmental organizations and associations to pick up these documents and analyse them. We're giving them a chance to get the help of my cabinet if they need help with anything. We have now met all the demands of the environmental protests and put an end to Rio Tinto in Serbia. As far as the Jadar project is concerned, this marks the end of it all," Brnabić noted.

The facts

Rio Tinto, i.e. daughter company Rio Sava Exploration, came to Serbia in 2004, which is when it was mentioned for the first time in a document issued to the company by Vojislav Koštunica's government, when Radomir Naumov (DSS) was the minister of mining. This ministry granted Rio Sava Exploration an approval on 8 June 2004 for conducting geological explorations. This was followed by a flurry of documents and permits issued to this company. Here is the timeline of the events:

- The first document, from 2004 – The Ministry of Mining made a decision allowing Rio Sava Exploration, based in Belgrade, to conduct explorations in Loznica

- The second document, dated 17 January 2005 – approving geological explorations within expanded boundaries

- The third document, dated 26 September 2005 - approving geological explorations in the territory of the Loznica Municipality

- The fourth document, dated 15 January 2007 – approving new exploration fields

- The fifth document, dated 4 January 2008 – geological exploration continues on an additional nine fields

- The sixth document, dated 28 August 2008 – approving additional explorations

- The seventh document, dated 15 September 2009 – another eight exploration locations

- The eighth document, dated 14 April 2011 – more exploration locations

- The ninth document was adopted on 1 February 2012, approving prospecting for boron and lithium at Jadar, in large-scale deposits. This the only document approving drilling and excavation in Serbia.

Nonsense

Brnabić also commented on the demands of the Kreni-Promeni (Move It – Change It) movement leader, Savo Manojlović.

"We have met all the demands, even pandered to some whims. I thought that he was a reasonable person, but these days I've been disabused of that notion. He submitted the demands and then launched a people's initiative. The people's initiative proposal was submitted to the Parliament on 14 January 2022. Under the Law on Referendum and People's Initiative, the Parliament has a 15-day deadline within which to respond. If he thought that the deadline wasn't reasonable, he could have said that he wanted a response within 48 hours. But no, Manojlović accepted it and then, sadly, showed up in front of the Parliament and said, we were having administrative obstructions because the President of the Republic hadn't verified this initiative. Not only is he lying, but he is also illiterate," PM said.

Brnabić pointed out that it was not the President that verifies a people's initiative proposal, but the Parliament committee.

"Manojlović demonstrated his ignorance and then called on people to gather in front of the Office of the President, because the President hadn't done it. But the President has no role in this process and cannot verify the initiative. That's why calling on people to gather up is pointless and demonstrates it has nothing to do with justice and the demands," PM noted.

She also said that the decision made by the Government of Serbia was not a forced one. Rather, it was a decision that indicates that the President of Serbia and the Government are there for the people, and not for political demands and whims.

Rio Tinto's complaints are in vain

'The decision is final'

Ahead of the Cabinet meeting yesterday, Rio Tinto said in a statement that it was concerned over the statements about possible cancelling of the spatial plan for the Jadar project. It said that the company is committed to developing the project in line with all the Serbian and international regulations, and that they are taking into account the concern over the environment that the general public has voiced.

However, the Prime Minister said yesterday that she was sorry the company had not expressed its concern earlier, and that the Serbian Government's decision was final.

Hypocrisy of foreign nationals

Brnabić added that she was at a loss for words regarding the "hypocrisy of the foreign nationals financing the protests."

"I've conveyed that message to the ambassadors of several countries that I spoke to. They are mostly organizations from the US, Germany, the United Kingdom, Austria, and the Rockefeller Foundation. They all had swarmed in in the past year in a bid to organize and fund the work of these organizations and the protests. It's not the case that the protest organizers attack the companies from these countries, and we apparently have to defend these very companies from those attacking them. Incredible things have happened in the past two months. When there's a bid to bring down Aleksandar Vučić, then the green agenda, European integration, and the rule of law become irrelevant," Brnabić said.

(Kurir.rs, Ivana Žigić)