Let us imagine Serbia in 2035. Two different Serbia’s exist — born from two different policy choices, two different strategic mindsets, and two different levels of courage. In the first scenario, Serbia chose the comfortable path. Mining investments arrived, ore was extracted, royalties were paid, and exports increased. The country recorded positive years, foreign exchange […]
Serbia 2035: Two paths for its industrial future Read Post »
The conversation about Serbia’s mining future is overwhelmingly dominated by two icons: lithium and copper. Lithium because it symbolizes electrification, energy transition and geopolitical currency in Europe’s battery ambitions; copper because it is the metal of electrification, power systems and industrial life. But if Serbia is serious about building durable industrial ecosystems, it cannot afford
Beyond lithium and copper: Serbia’s hidden resources for building industrial ecosystems Read Post »
Europe’s industrial reality is simple: it cannot meet its energy transition, manufacturing restructuring, and technological competitiveness goals without secure access to critical materials and reliable processing ecosystems. From lithium for batteries to copper for electrification, from industrial minerals to metals enabling renewable infrastructure, Europe needs not just resources but security of supply. Meanwhile, Serbia’s economic
Europe’s raw materials challenge is widely misunderstood. Public debate tends to orbit around mining projects, geological exploration, and access to resources. Yet the deeper structural gap in Europe’s industrial security does not sit in the rocks beneath the ground; it sits in the factories that never got built. Europe does not just lack minerals. Europe
Serbia — Europe’s processing hub: Turning resources into industrial power Read Post »
Today, nuclear energy is often mentioned in Serbia as if it were a simple technical solution to our energy challenges. In public debate it is presented almost like an infrastructure procurement issue: build a plant, secure electricity, problem solved. It is a state strategy spanning at least three decades, demanding knowledge, trained people, institutions, planning
South-East Europe is moving into a period where emissions, carbon pricing, and green electricity certification are no longer policy experiments. They have become structural realities shaping who can continue exporting to Europe, who can secure financing, who can scale operations, and who will quietly disappear from competitive relevance. For decades, industries across the Western Balkans,
Green energy certificates and CBAM now sit at the heart of Europe’s industrial trade reality. The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism was created not as a tariff instrument, but as a structural equaliser: Europe is decarbonising its industry under strict emissions pricing through the EU ETS, and CBAM ensures that imported products face a comparable carbon
Green energy certificates, CBAM and the new reality of exporting to the European Union Read Post »
Serbia is entering a decisive economic moment in which metallurgy and materials processing are no longer simply industrial activities, but the structural foundation of national competitiveness, technological relevance and strategic sovereignty inside Europe’s evolving industrial space. For decades, Serbia’s metallurgy was viewed primarily in terms of legacy steel, aluminium downstream manufacturing, copper production and industrial
Europe is entering a new industrial era in which power is no longer defined primarily by who owns natural resources, but by who controls processing. Sovereignty today lies not in mines, but in metallurgical know-how, refining capability, chemical conversion capacity, engineering execution, and industrial resilience. Belgium anchors copper and zinc. The Netherlands stabilizes aluminium and
Southeast Europe is facing a rare and decisive moment. For the first time in decades, the European Union needs the region not symbolically, not politically, and not as an afterthought — but in a structural, industrial sense. Not as a source of cheap labour, not as a passive consumer market, not as an outsourcing experiment
