Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/315536 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Series/Report no.: 
SWP Comment No. 10/2025
Publisher: 
Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP), Berlin
Abstract: 
In July 2024, the European Union (EU) and the Serbian government signed a strategic raw materials partnership. For the EU, this cooperation represents an important step towards diversifying its supply chains and strengthening economic partnerships in its neighbourhood. Serbian President Aleksandar Vuéci´c has a geopolitical interest in this cooperation, which he also wants to use to further consolidate his already extensive power domestically. The signing of the partnership agreement has triggered massive protests in Serbia. Critics fear that the implementation of the raw materials partnership could further undermine already fragile rule-of-law structures, as well as environmental and social standards. The case of Serbia illustrates that the EU can only exert limited influence on the country's authoritarian government in a geopolitically tense context. However, it must strategically use its available leverage to mitigate the existing risks.
Subjects: 
Serbia
Aleksandar Vuéci´c
rule of law
sustainability
Europe's raw materials cooperation
Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA)
ESG (environmental
social
governance)
Jadar Project
lithium
boron
German Mineral Resources Agency (DERA)
Rio Sava
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Research Report

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