BRUSSELS, March 16 (KUNA) — The European Commission proposed new set of rules on imports of critical materials to secure, diversified, affordable and sustainable supply of critical raw materials.
“Critical raw materials are indispensable for a wide set of strategic sectors including the net zero industry, the digital industry, aerospace, and defence sectors,” said the Commission in a press release on Thursday.
Under the new rules, a single country could not import more of a given raw material than 65% of the EU’s annual consumption.
While demand for critical raw materials is “projected to increase drastically, Europe heavily relies on imports, often from quasi-monopolistic third country suppliers,” Commission Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis told a press conference in Brussels presenting the Critical Raw Materials Act.
“However, we are not a resource-rich continent. Our domestic supply will provide only a fraction of the critical raw materials we need. For many of the critical raw materials, we depend heavily on a small pool of partners. Sometimes, just one partner. “This is not a stable nor reliable way to build the industries of the future,” he said hinting at EU dependence on China.
The EU imports currently 98% of rare earths, 93% of magnesium, and 97% of lithium supply from China.
“We know that many resource-rich countries are keen to attract partners to develop their own critical raw materials value chains sustainably,” he said.
“We will create a Critical Raw Materials Club, for all interested countries to strengthen global supply chains – bringing together consuming and resource-rich countries for mutually beneficial cooperation,” said Dombrovskis.
He said that the EU has already signed strategic partnerships with Canada, Kazakhstan, Namibia and Ukraine and is working to expand its network of critical raw materials partnerships in Europe with Norway and Greenland, and further afield, with the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, in Latin America with Argentina.
Today’s proposal has now to be adopted by EU member states and the European Parliament. (end) nk.gb
Source: Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)