Serbia cannot deprive itself and give up the natural resources that enable the energy independence of the state, said the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic..
As the Presidency of Serbia announced on May 28, Vucic pointed this out at a meeting in Belgrade with the representative of the Kolubara Mining Basin Workers’ Union (RB) Miodrag Rankovic and the acting director of the Public Company Elektroprivreda Srbije (EPS) Milorad Grcic with whom he discussed the future of EPS and new production and development projects.
According to the Presidency, Vucic characterized as one of the most important in the field of energy the issue of the implementation of the “green agenda”, which implies the reduction of harmful gas emissions in that sector.
“Serbia is committed to introducing the highest standards in the use of the potential of renewable energy sources and the preservation of the environment. We will continue talks with the representatives of the Government of Serbia and the expert public in order to find a sustainable solution, so that Serbia would not become a major importer of electricity from 2030,” Vucic pointed out.
As it is stated, he listened to the remarks and proposals made on behalf of the miners by the representative of the Trade Union, while Miodrag Rankovic conveyed the miners’ request to Vucic to visit RB Kolubara and answer the questions of the employees. Workers of thermal power plants in Serbia, which use coal as a raw material for electricity production, protested on May 25 against the decision of the Ministry of Mining and Energy to stop the construction of the new Kolubara B thermal power plant. Serbia signed a preliminary agreement on the construction of Kolubara B with Power China, but at the same time, in the process of joining the European Union, it is obliged to decommission coal by 2050.
Minister at the time, Zorana Mihajlovic, stated at the meeting with the EPS Trade Union that there would be no closure of thermal power plants and announced that a council would be formed to make a plan for thermal capacities. As she said, the potential construction of Kolubara B requires a plan on the functioning of energy in the next 30 years.
On the other hand, the unions suspect that there are state plans for mining to be largely shut down by 2030, which would leave 18,000 people from that sector without jobs, first in Kolubara and Kostolac. According to European standards, the energy transition for Serbia means that, if it intends to stop consuming fossil fuels, it will have to build new power plants on water, gas, sun and wind.
Since November 2020, Serbia has been a signatory to the Declaration on the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans, which committed the countries of the region to the introduction of taxation of greenhouse gas emissions, increasing the share of renewable energy sources and phasing out coal subsidies.
The Green Agenda is envisaged by the European Green Plan, which contains measures to make the EU climate neutral by 205, Slobodna Evropa reports.
