SERBIA: EU-Serbia memorandum & more – 23rd July 2024

Dobar dan from Keswick Village! This is the Rorshok Serbia Update from the 23rd of July twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what's going down in Serbia.

On Friday the 19th, Serbia and the EU signed a memorandum of understanding on critical raw materials, battery value chains, and electric vehicles, which will enable the construction of a major lithium mine in Serbia, despite the public’s opposition. The main reason behind the memorandum is the lithium-mining Jadar project led by Rio Tinto, an Australian-based mining giant, which the government put on standby in twenty twenty-two due to environmental concerns. However, President Vucic said that the Jadar project would bring the country more than six billion dollars in foreign direct investments. He also told the media that he will fight personally for the environment and for the lives of Jadar locals.

Recall that last week, we mentioned that the Constitutional Court overturned the government’s decision from twenty twenty-two to halt the Jadar project, causing environmental protests.

On Monday, the 22nd, the EU Council adopted a regulation granting Kosovo residents passports issued by Serbia’s Directorate for Kosovo. These passports allow them to cross the external borders of EU member states without visas. This regulation ensures that the entire region of the Western Balkans is subject to the same visa regime.

Kosovo’s government was disappointed with this decision, however, noting that Serbian-issued Kosovo passports are not valid in their eyes. They added that these passports violate Kosovo’s territorial integrity, as they are issued by Serbian institutions running in parallel with their official ones, which, to them, harms the efforts for the integration of Serbians in Kosovo.

In other news, pro-regime media have been targeting the opposition media outlets Nova S and N1, accusing them of dehumanizing President Vucic. In a video, which aired on Tuesday the 16th on a couple of pro-government TV outlets, the opposition media were accused of justifying extreme hate of Vucic. The video then notes that such hate campaigns could result in the dehumanization of targeted individuals, which could lead to extreme violence, referring to the recent assassination attempt on Donald Trump.

After the video aired, journalists from both N1 and Nova S received threats via Twitter, including comments promoting physical assault of journalists, as well as arson on the media outlet headquarters. The Independent Journalists’ Association of Serbia has condemned the threats targeting journalists, calling on the government to identify and prosecute the perpetrators.

On that note about the government, the Association of Agricultural Producers, or SPAS, sent a letter addressed to Ana Brnabic, the Parliament speaker, demanding subsidies payouts. The association’s president noted that if the government does not provide the promised subsidy of around 160 dollars per two acres of land, the group will set up roadblocks in Belgrade. SPAS said that they have been awaiting the subsidies since twenty twenty-three, adding that the government is mistreating and underpaying them.

Agriculture experts commented on the situation, saying that the farming industry in Serbia is on the brink of economic collapse due to the state’s abuse of the subsidies system. They added that due to the lack of laws allocating money from taxes to the agriculture budget, farmers have been deprived of more than a billion dollars over the last decade.

Speaking of the economy, the Socio-Economic Council announced the negotiations on the minimum wage for twenty twenty-five, which will take place on the 15th of August. The negotiations will be held between the government, trade unions, and employers, and they will have fifteen days to reach an agreement on the new minimum wage.

Currently, the minimum wage in Serbia amounts to around 600 dollars a month, however, with the rise in prices of goods and services, that sum is barely covering the cost of the average consumer basket, which is around 550 dollars.

Moving on, on Tuesday the 16th, Forbes Adria media outlet announced that they will be holding the Power Women’s summit in Belgrade this September - an event aimed at highlighting women’s work and influence in various fields. In a press release, Forbes Adria said that the summit will host women who have made significant impacts in their fields, providing them with a platform to educate and inspire new generations. Another goal of the summit is to highlight the challenges modern women face, including workspace gender bias and stereotypes, which often lead to, fewer opportunities for advancement, lower pay, and a lack of recognition for their contributions.

In some news about the climate, the World Bank Group published a report on Wednesday the 17th, in which they analyzed solutions that Western Balkan countries could implement to protect citizens against the impact of climate change. The report, titled Western Balkans Regional Country Climate and Development, notes the ongoing heat wave that has spread through the region and added that if countries don’t take action, the temperatures could continue to rise in the coming years. The report highlighted the harmful impact that excess heat has on the environment, as climate change greatly increases the number of droughts, wildfires, and floods.

As a solution, the report advised countries to invest in greening cities, bolstering flood defenses, and establishing life-saving early warning systems. It also notes that Western Balkan countries need to reduce greenhouse emissions to tackle the growing heat.

Since we mentioned the greening of cities, on Wednesday the 17th, the Center for Local Self-Government in Belgrade, or CLS, reported that only nine percent of the capital’s area is covered by forests. Compared to most European capitals where forests take up on average thirty percent of urban areas, Belgrade’s forest coverage is dangerously low. CLS noted that in order for the city to overcome excess heat in the summer, forests need to take up at least seventeen percent of the city area.

As with forests, Belgrade is also struggling with providing drinking water in some of its areas. In the Zeleznik settlement in Belgrade, citizens haven’t had water access since the 24th of June due to its contamination. More trouble ensued when the authorities released water for testing for two days, without notifying the citizens that it was contaminated with feces. Zeleznik was not the only municipality to receive this treatment, however. In Padinska Skela, locals were not aware that the water they were drinking contained not only fecal matter but also arsenic.

The lack of water is a problem outside of Belgrade too. In certain villages, citizens have access to drinking water only once per week for a certain period of time, and in others, the cisterns containing drinking water are available twenty-four-seven but are empty and unusable. In the north Banat region of Serbia, nearly ninety-five percent of water samples were deemed unsafe to drink.

On a brighter note, the EXIT Foundation announced last week during their festival in Novi Sad, the launch of a digital platform aimed at the promotion of stakeholders in the cultural and creative industries. Titled Creative Gate, the platform will work towards networking and enhancing the operation of creative venues, artists, events, and festivals, among others. The platform will include a promotional campaign featuring events in multiple cities across the Western Balkans region. It will also host the Western Balkans Creative Day in November in Belgrade, during which beginners in the creative fields will be able to network and share experiences.

Exit Foundation representatives highlighted the importance of cultural and creative industries for the economy and society, adding that cultural and creative industries in Serbia alone account for around eight percent of the country’s GDP.

Speaking of culture and creativity, last week, A1 Kinoteka opened up their summer cinema and will be screening around fifty movies until the 31st of August. The outdoor screenings will take place in the Veterans' Club Building in Belgrade every night at nine PM. This year’s edition of the event will include a lineup of contemporary films, including The Elusive Summer of ’68, Triangle of Sadness, Last Night of Love, and many others. Tickets for the screenings are available to purchase in advance at the Yugoslav Film Archive, or on the day of the screening at the Veterans' Club Building entrance, and will retail for around three dollars. For more information, check out the link in the show notes!

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

Thank you so much to everyone who filled in the survey over the past few weeks, we really appreciate your comments and ideas. Many of you mentioned you would like to get some more in-depth episodes and interviews, is that something you would like? Do you have any topics in mind? Something specific about Serbia that you want to know more about for us to do a special show on? We want to do some new things very soon!

Please email us at info@rorshok.com. If you left an email to contact you in the survey, we’ll reach out to you very soon. The survey is still linked in the show notes if you are interested in that as well.

Do daljnjeg, zbogom