Zdravko Ponoš, the president of the SRCE political movement, told Nova.rs that Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić had a meeting with representatives of the Rio Tinto Company in Brussels. Ponoš said that Vučić discussed the possibility of Serbian cooperation with Rio Tinto in the development of Serbia’s mining industry.
„It is clear why Vučić hid the fact that he was going to Brussels. After I spoke about the trip, he barely admitted that he was travelling and claimed that he only had a meeting with the European Commission. I reminded him that he also had a meeting with the EIB and that the third meeting was a secret one with Rio Tinto. The president is bluntly overstepping his constitutional powers and acts contrary to the official decision of the Government to suspend business with Rio Tinto. Another reason could be that the Government’s decision to stop the project is just a farce and that both the Government nor the President ever terminated that arrangement. We have a corrupt colonial administration”, Ponoš said.
Vučić confirmed in the Serbian Parliament that he had meetings in Brussels, but did not fully reveal with whom.
“Some of you claimed that I had a secret meeting in Brussels. I was accompanied by two ministers and two advisers and met with the vice president of the European Commission, with whom we talked about metals and minerals – from gold to calcite. I wanted to talk about lithium, but they can’t talk to me because of our frivolous attitude towards lithium. That’s the big secret and that’s the terrible ‘crime’ I committed,” said Vučić.
