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A group of MEPs calls on the European Commission to pay attention to Chinese investments in the field of heavy industry in Serbia, because they bring numerous negative consequences for both the environment and the legal order. The member of the European Parliament of the European People’s Party, Miriam Lexman, said that she and 25 other MEPs sent a letter to the European Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighborhood Policy, Oliver Varhelji, in which they pointed out the negative aspects of Chinese investments in the environment from Serbia. They are concerned about Chinese investment in heavy industry, especially in hardware stores, coal mines and tire factories, in cities such as Bor, Smederevo, Kostolac and Zrenjanin.
As a second set of problems, Leksman claimed that many deals with Chinese investors violate Serbian laws, but also European conditions for negotiations. This is not only a question of ecology, but also of fair competition between companies, as well as questions related to many legal aspects of the investment.
Viola von Cramon Taubadel, member of the Green Group in the European Parliament, warned that air pollution is a serious problem, which “costs lives”, and pointed to the Kostolac Thermal Power Plant as an example.
Ljubodrag Savic, a professor at the Faculty of Economics, thinks they have the right to say so, but I would ask them, as a Serb who suffered the terror of some European countries, what they did with the depleted uranium, which was used in 1999 during the bombing of Serbia.
– When you apologize to the state of Serbia, compensate the damages of the war, clean the country of uranium as much as possible and when you bear the price of treating the people who suffer the consequences, then you can say that it is heavy industry and harm the citizens of Serbia. They care? We are poisoning, not poisoning – says Savić.
Our interlocutor believes that Serbia is not a problem for MEPs. Their problem is China because they do not welcome their presence in their territory, although they do not accept Serbia as a member of the EU.
– Serbia should ignore such things and accept whoever offers a helping hand, and obviously it is China. For now, we can be satisfied. Environmental protection could be better, there is no dilemma. They are right there, but they don’t care about us, they care about them. In my opinion, that story is completely empty and Serbia should not pay attention to what the European parliamentarians are saying. They don’t care about the environment. They would like to see the backs of the Chinese and Russians, says the professor at the Faculty of Economics. Our interlocutor says that we can ask the Chinese to improve environmental protection, but we know roughly what we can achieve. When it comes to praying, one should not get angry, he adds. According to him, we are a small country that has many problems, but it cannot solve them alone and must make economic, political and military alliances.
– Although the European Union imposes conditions on us that no one sets, we traditionally have good cooperation with Russia. China came to us as an “ace in 11” and that is another possibility for Serbia, emphasizes Savić.
Milan Kovacevic, a foreign investment consultant, says that MEPs compare what is happening in our country with what is regulated and how it is done in the European Union. Our close economic relations with Russia and China are already a problem for them, because one day when we will be and if we will be members, we will have to follow a common policy of relations with other countries.
He says it doesn’t matter if the listed companies are owned by China, because it also invests in Europe. The signatories of the letter, he says, find something else that is not good and then link it to China.
– Lately we have big environmental problems with the Bor mine and the Smederevo forge, and we should understand this as a problem. Our thermal power plants pollute the air too much, they dispose of ash in a bad way, we have many tailings from many mines. Energy and ecology are tied in our knot. We must be more careful. I think there are a lot of things happening that are delaying our chance to join the EU. This is exactly one of those – says Kovacevic and cautions that when it comes to ecology, we not only tolerate Chinese companies, but unfortunately we also tolerate environmental pollution from domestic companies.
– We must place ecology in a high place in the hierarchy of our objectives. In the first place, for the good of the economy, because we will not go far if we invest in projects that spoil the environment … Second, our health, our air and the country’s attractions depend on that. That may be one of the factors that refuses to invest in our country – warns Kovacevic.
It coincides with the assessment of the Fiscal Council that four times less money is spent on environmental protection in the budget than it should be, because the later environmental problems are solved, the more expensive it will cost us.
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