Apparently, the conversion of Olaf Scholz in Serbia was not thought very seriously.
His visit to Belgrade on July 19, 2024, shows that the German chancellor is ready to throw himself into the arms of another autocrat when it comes to raw materials. The lithium deal with Aleksandar Vucic raises a number of concerns.
First, the Serbian public was deliberately deceived. In January 2022, then-Prime Minister Ana Brnabic cancelled the lithium mine project after protests by environmentalists. However, this was clearly just a bluff to continue behind the scenes. Now the same mine is celebrated, and Ms. Burnabic claims that the events of 2022 were the fault of foreign secret services that wanted to harm Serbia. The allegation that foreign agents planned atrocities is known to the regime in Russia. Serbian politicians and their media constantly conduct anti-German campaigns in this direction.
But Berlin doesn't care. After all, the European car industry, which wants to switch to electric cars, urgently needs the alkali metal lithium. It also wants to become less dependent on China, which has supplies of the raw material. That is why the authoritarian regime in Serbia is apparently ready to fulfil her wishes. After all, there are large deposits of lithium in the western part of the country.
It's all about deals
However, the deal has a price that Serbian citizens will pay. After all, Germany is the most important country for Serbia - both politically and economically. If the German government no longer insists on democratic standards and the rule of law for its own business interests, no one else will. This harms above all the courageous democratic forces in Serbia who have confidence in Germany.
The behaviour of German diplomacy towards Serbia has been conspicuous for some time now and is increasingly characterized by a policy of appeasement, although Serbia does not support sanctions against Russia, follows an extremely nationalist-revisionist political line and destabilizes the region with its ambitions for Greater Serbia. In the background are the deals: according to the Financial Times, Serbia is supplying Ukraine with weapons worth 800 million euros. Vucic conducts an efficient policy of swinging, thereby silencing criticism.
A policy of appeasement
The appeasement policy of the regime in Belgrade is also at the expense of the smaller neighbouring countries. Thus, for example, it is noticed that Germany tied its support for Kosovo's accession to the Council of Europe with new conditions and thus also hindered it. Before that, Serbia massively lobbied in favour of Kosovo not being admitted to the Council of Europe.
It is said that during the negotiations for the Ohrid Agreement with Kosovo a year and a half ago, the German side promised the representatives of Serbia that it would support the lithium project. Therefore, white gold is used for political transactions. Germany looks like a supplicant. And Vucic scores points at all levels. Despite the lithium deal, he has yet to sign the agreement and regularly confirms he never will.
Germany's CDU MP Knut Abraham rightly warns that "as once with Putin", a country can with impunity impose aggressive policies on its neighbours because of its economic relations. In any case, commodity diplomacy that sidesteps the rule of law and EU standards reinforces authoritarian behaviour and sends the wrong signal. The consequences of this will be felt in the Balkans. | BGNES
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