Gornje Nedeljice, a small village nestled among western Serbia’s golden cornfields, is facing eradication as a consequence of the European Union’s green energy transition. Around 50 houses along the village’s main road are abandoned, bought out by mining conglomerate Rio Tinto Zinc (see NI 539) to clear the way for lithium extraction mooted to meet 90 per cent of the EU’s needs. ‘It’s like a horror movie up there,’ says Bojana, 23, sitting in front of the house which she shares with three generations of relatives. ‘We own land up in the village, but it’s not for sale.’
Europe’s leaders disagree. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has joined France’s Emmanuel Macron and Italy’s Giorgia Meloni in visiting the Western Balkan nation in recent months, creating political pressure that has helped autocratic Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić to ignore widespread domestic opposition and push through legislation allowing the controversial lithium extraction to begin.
