“Trade is being used as a weapon.” The sobering and grim conclusion reached by European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic was not surprising, but it served the European Commission in underscoring the importance of the EU strengthening its economic security and increasing access to essential raw materials vital to the continent’s largest industry. On the same day that the Vintisiti party agreed to accelerate cutting dependence on Russian gas before the end of 2027, Brussels is planning a similar program for critical issues, in which Europe is particularly and dangerously dependent on China. The project includes measures that encourage the production of these materials in the European Union and diversify purchases to other regions outside the Asian giant.
Among other elements, the action plan, called REsourceEU, expects to move up to 3,000 million euros of European funds over the next 12 months to achieve “short-term alternative supplies” to China in scarce times, as well as setting a calendar up to 2029 to reduce costs by up to 50%. External dependencies. The movement of funds will be accompanied by procedures to grant more advanced authorizations for critical raw materials “to allow the rapid launch of projects”, says the Commission, to which it is committed to submitting a concrete simplification proposal soon.
Because the idea, as community sources explain, is to rely on a global plan that responds to the necessity of the present moment and to prepare a long-term strategy, accelerating, among other measures, the processes of diversification and independence in these matters. It is moving from enhancing internal production to diversifying the process of acquiring it across European borders, with the aim of getting rid of the heavy dependence on China, which in some crucial matters exceeds 90% in these times. This is what the Commission calls “crucial diplomacy,” which envisages building on 15 strategic alliances signed with resource-rich countries, such as South Africa, and expanding to other countries such as Brazil, with Brussels hoping to begin negotiations soon.
And from the inside out, Europe must also recycle some of these elements better by improving the circular economy – currently less than 1% of rare earth elements are recycled in the EU – and by eliminating waste in exporting this type of waste. In particular, the Commission intends to propose, in the first half of 2026, restrictions on the export of waste and waste generated from permanent magnets on the basis of a comprehensive assessment, in addition to specific measures on aluminum waste. Furthermore, the European Executive indicates that, if necessary, similar measures for copper production will be considered.
All this, with very clear objectives: “We want to reduce the dependence on graphite from the current 41% to 25%, on cobalt from 63% to 44% and on lithium, which today ranges from 90% to 44% in 2030,” explained Vice-Chairman of the Prosperity and Industrial Strategy Committee, Stefan Sigourney, presenting the initiative with Sefcovic, who was appointed. A major factor in Veintisiete’s “economic security”.
With its sights widened, the Commission also proposes the creation of a “European Center for Biomaterials” “from 2026” with a broad mandate that would allow it to coordinate information on markets and supply chains, but also to oversee joint strategic procurement and storage of these vital materials for Europe’s competitiveness, with the aim of protecting them from attempts to exploit them and price “shocks”.
Through this plan, “Europe would work in favor of its independence with regard to vital raw materials,” Ségournet announced this miracle. “In the global life of the materials our industries desperately need, RESourceEU is an engine of our industrial sovereignty, and a cornerstone of Europe’s economic security,” he said.
Time passes and Brussels learns. A few months ago, the European Union came to an end with the US and China reducing restrictions on the export of rare earths and technology from the Asian giant, which threatened to strangle value chains around the world. But in Brussels there is no mistake: what is happening now, even by chance, is to gain time for a year, but peace continues there. Given the importance of not wasting a single minute and relying on an “independent European plan”, they insisted on the sources consulted during the preparation of the project, now officially launched, which seeks to strengthen the Bio-Raw Materials (Regulation of Bio-Raw Materials) Act approved a year and a half ago, which seeks to reduce dependence on non-EU exports of 34 key minerals for European interests.
This project forms part of a broader goal, which has also become a focus of the Commission this year: “Strengthening European economic security.” For this purpose, the Union’s Executive Committee plans to consider some policies that were underway in previous years, such as controlling the purchase of technologically advanced European companies by other countries. Like many such measures, the target is specific to China.
The European Economic Security Strategy will be launched in 2023, and the Commission is now openly discussing it and deepening it. The areas in which you intend to work are trade, financial cooperation with third countries or anti-coercion measures. In the latter case, the EU has its own anti-coercion tool, which was used extensively this summer during the trade war with the United States, and which has not yet been used. It has not only been addressed so much during the recent tensions with China – which Sefcovic alluded to when he said that “trade is being used as a weapon” – but it has also been valued as a tool that can be used. However, it only remains that if it arrives if the European Union maintains the necessary unity for its use.