On December 4, the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) hosted an in-person event titled “Crushing EU Standards in the Lithium Rush? The Case of the Western Balkans.”

With increasing global demand for critical raw materials and rare earths, the EU and its industry are scrambling to tap into the huge reservoir that is the Western Balkans. While the domestic authorities are unquestionably in favour of selling lucrative concessions, citizens are largely against mining projects due to their environmental harm. There are also concerns that the lithium rush will further undermine the fragile democracies of states at different stages of the EU integration process.

These prospects raise several questions: is mining the best economic and development model for the future prosperity of the Western Balkan countries? Do these projects comply with the rule of law and environmental and health standards? What consequences do such projects have on the countries’ pre-accession processes and on the EU enlargement policy overall?

Welcome:

Steven Blockmans, Associate Senior Research Fellow at CEPS and Project Coordinator of REUNIR
Speakers:

Aleksandra Tomanić, Executive Director of the European Fund for the Balkans;
Vedran Džihić, Senior Researcher at OIIP – the Austrian Institute for International Affairs;
Jovana Marović, Member of BiEPAG and former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of European Affairs of the Government of Montenegro;
Srđan Majstorović, Chairman of the Governing Board of the European Policy Centre – CEP, Belgrade.

Moderator: Florian Bieber, Professor for Southeast European History and Politics at the University of Graz and Work Package leader in the REUNIR project.

You can watch the event by visiting the link 🔗