Срби у хиљадама излазе на улице због еколошких и антивладиних демонстрација

Thousands took to the streets in Serbia to protest against the government and a project by the Anglo-Australian company Rio Tinto to set up a lithium mine, пише Цристиан Гхерасим.

The protestors filled the streets for the past two weekends, but the number of those taking part has increased significantly over the past week.

Their ire has been directed towards a recently enacted law which paves the way for land expropriation for public interest projects, with environmental activists believing it would speed up Rio Tinto's environmentally damaging project to open a lithium mine in western Serbia, a key mineral, essential for manufacturing batteries for electric cars.

This past few days saw swarms of protesters gathering on the main bridge of the capital city of Belgrade, chanting "Rio Tinto, leave the Drina River!" and carrying slogans with messages such as "Stop investing, save nature!" or "For land, water and air".

On the other hand, the Anglo-Australian company has promised to meet all Serbian and European environmental standards, but environmentalists say the $2.4 billion lithium mine project will irreversibly pollute land and drinking water resources in the area.

The protests come ahead of next year’s parliamentary and presidential elections. The protesters accused the government's authoritarian policy and President Aleksandar Vucic's Progressive Party of backing a law that eliminates the 50% plus one quorum for validating referendums.

The issue of business investments and rather Russian and Chinese influence in Serbia has been the topic of a study carried out GLOBSEC Policy Institute which stated that Serbia is the most susceptible to Russian and Chinese interference in both politics and business.

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The index follows a two-year project backed by the U.S. Department of State’s Global Engagement Center, analyzing vulnerable points, targeted by foreign influence, in eight countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Montenegro, Northern Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia.

Serbia is the most vulnerable to Russian and Chinese influence and receives 66 points out of 100.

Кина је више пута гађала регион западног Балкана покушавајући да повећа свој утицај. Према речима стручњака, кинески лидери настоје да повећају утицај у државама које још не примењују законе ЕУ.

Пекинг покушава да обезбеди различите ресурсе чак и у неким државама чланицама ЕУ. Недавне акције Кине истичу, на пример, интересовање за трансформацију лука Пиреј (Грчка) и Задар (Хрватска) у чворишта за трговину Кине са Европом. У том циљу потписан је уговор о изградњи брзе пруге између Будимпеште и Београда, која би се повезала са луком Пиреј, чиме би се кинеским производима консолидовао приступ Европи.

On the other hand Russian is more interested in Western Balkans to disrupt the EU-NATO integration process there.

„Најугроженије земље су углавном оне које имају ближе билатералне односе са Русијом и имају друштва која су прорускија и наклоњенија проруском наративу“, сматра Доминика Хајду из ГЛОБСЕЦ-а.

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