MEP: I’ll inform EP about situation with Rio Tinto in Serbia

Božana Pavlica/Fonet

Serbia is an independent country, and it is not the role of the European Union to decide instead of its citizens who will lead the country," a member of the European Parliament and co-chair of the European Green Party Thomas Waitz has told a news conference on Wednesday.

He said he would inform the EP about the situation with Rio Tinto in Serbia and that he was aware that EU money was not always spent on what it was meant for in the country.

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Asked why the EU still supported Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic, Waitz told the joint news conference with the Don’t Let Belgrade Drown opposition organisation, that the EU was very diverse, with different values and that he didn’t support Vucic.

Waitz added that  „they (the EU) do not see what the alternative is and that it is better for the money to at least partially reach the citizens than for the EU to punish Serbia’a people by stop sending money.“

He said that he had visited Serbia in the previous days, that he had seen wastewater go directly into rivers, illegal landfills and plastic pollution along the Danube.

However, he added he had seen some changes, people’s readiness to stand up for civil rights and against projects that endanger their environment.

Waitz said air pollution was the biggest environmental problem in the Western Balkans.

The Austrian environmentalist said he would ask the Government how a quick antigene test could cost 0.7 euros in the EU and five euros in Serbia, while a PCR test cost 40 euros in the Union and 90 euros here.

Asked about the Rio Tinto lithium mine project, Waitz said that he saw that there was a problem and that what was happening was not transparent, and that he would sign a petition against that project.

Weiss said that people would need a large amount of lithium, but that he believed that already excavated should be recycled before opening new mines.

He added that some resources such as water or education were common and should not be traded and said the COVID-19 pandemic showed fewer deaths in the countries with good public health and not where it was privatised.