Finance Minister of Serbia Sinisa Mali said that the amendments to the newly adopted Law on Expropriation should be discussed by the Government of Serbia during the session scheduled for Thursday, December 9. Citizens were gathering in mass demonstrations across Serbia over the past two weeks against that law and the amendments to the Law on Referendum.

Mali said that the Law on Expropriation which the parliament recently adopted has not yet been signed by President Aleksandar Vucic, adding that the law is in accordance with the Constitution but will be amended due to the short deadline of only five days to decide on the sale of property.

According to Mali, the amendments to the Law on Expropriation are not made because of the ‘Jadar’ project or the Rio Tinto lithium mine in the western Serbia.

“That law has nothing to do with Rio Tinto. Every document that was passed for Rio Tinto is a year behind us,” Mali said.

Over the previous two weeks, mass protests were organised throughout Serbia against the Law on Expropriation and the Law on Referendum with the protesters claiming that the laws are being adopted in order to open the way for Rio Tinto company to open a lithium mine in the west of the country.