MPs call on government to nullify lithium memorandum

MPs in the lower house have asked the government to nullify a recent memorandum on the mining of lithium signed by the Minister of Industry and Trade, Jiří Havlíček with Australian mining company European Metals Holdings.

The move comes days before Czechs go to the polls in the national election and after nine hours of intense debate in an extraordinary session on Monday. Two proposals were passed while two failed to get a majority. The affair over lithium mining has blown up since the memorandum was signed: the Social Democrats accusing fellow members in government, ANO, on Monday of politicizing the matter for their own ends, calling the issue artificially inflated. ANO had claimed in past days that the memorandum signed by the Social Democrat-controlled Ministry of Industry with Australia’s European Metals Holdings Company was “selling out the national interest”.