EU DECODED: Czy UE przegrywa geopolityczny wyścig o kluczowe surowce mineralne?
UE chce zmniejszyć zależność od takich potęg jak Chiny w zakresie dostaw minerałów do końca dekady. W miarę narastania napięć geopolitycznych, EU DECODED zadaje pytanie, czy blok jest w stanie dotrzymać kroku swoim konkurentom.
CZYTAJ WIĘCEJ : http://pl.euronews.com/2025/04/22/eu-decoded-czy-ue-przegrywa-geopolityczny-wyscig-o-kluczowe-surowce-mineralne
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UE chce zmniejszyć zależność od takich potęg jak Chiny w zakresie dostaw minerałów do końca dekady. W miarę narastania napięć geopolitycznych, EU DECODED zadaje pytanie, czy blok jest w stanie dotrzymać kroku swoim konkurentom.
CZYTAJ WIĘCEJ : http://pl.euronews.com/2025/04/22/eu-decoded-czy-ue-przegrywa-geopolityczny-wyscig-o-kluczowe-surowce-mineralne
Zasubskrybuj nasz kanał.Euronews jest dostępny na Dailymotion w 12 językach
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NewsTranscript
00:00Muzyka
00:14Some are calling them the new oil of the world economy.
00:18These minerals and metals are essential for producing new technologies like microchips, electric cars and solar panels.
00:27And governments are scrambling to secure them.
00:32China is using its market dominance to weaken its rivals.
00:36US President Donald Trump has invoked wartime powers to boost production and has even threatened to seize mineral-rich Canada and Greenland.
00:47But where is the European Union in the global race for raw materials?
00:52We break it down in EU Decoded.
00:54The EU has listed 34 critical raw materials it considers essential.
01:0017 are prioritized as strategic.
01:03They include cobalt, lithium, manganese and nickel used in electric vehicles and gallium, copper and silicon metal used in solar panels.
01:12The Critical Raw Materials Act sets targets for the EU to extract 10%, process 40% and recycle 25% of the strategic materials it consumes by the end of this decade.
01:26Part of the EU strategy means mining but also refining and recycling more raw materials at home in Europe.
01:34The European Commission recently selected 47 new strategic projects in 13 EU countries.
01:41But how do Europeans feel about the prospect of mining returning to their backyards?
01:47Unabhängigkeit finde ich nicht verkehrt, wenn man anbetracht der Abhängigkeit, jetzt ist glaube ich auch gerade das Thema mit den Abhängigkeiten von chinesischen Erden und so.
01:55Ja, ich befürchte, dass das Bergrecht so gestaltet wird, dass die Gemeinden wenigstens Einspruchsrecht haben bzw. Mitspracherecht.
02:03Und ich meine, Brüssel ist weit weg von irgendeiner kleinen Posemuckelgemeinde.
02:07Oh, also ich meine, es hört sich danach an, dass vielleicht Arbeitsplätze geschaffen werden können, was gut ist.
02:12Es gibt auch die Chinesischen, die wie es scheint, aber auch die Amerikaner selbstverständlich.
02:19Wir sprechen nicht von Afrika, sondern von den Chinesischen in Afrika.
02:21Ich denke, dass wir in meiner Meinung nach nicht verhören, weil wir das nicht verhören, weil wir jemanden aus der Handlung schäuert die Handlung nach demnach.
02:30Ich bin agree, aber es wäre eine große Botschaft für Informationen, auch von einem wirklich scientificen Hinblick auf.
02:37Robert Hodgson ist unser Senior Energy and Environment Reporter.
02:42i he's been following the Critical Role Materials Act for Euronews.
02:46Robert, thank you for joining us.
02:47First, can you tell us why there's such a rush here in Brussels
02:51to both mine more at home,
02:53but also to diversify Europe's mineral suppliers?
02:57Two reasons. First of all, demand for these minerals is rising
03:00because they're needed for the energy transition.
03:04Modern technology and now weapons is becoming a more significant factor.
03:08The other problem that Europe has is that over years
03:11they've developed dependencies on other countries
03:13for the supply of these things, that not much is produced in Europe.
03:16Brussels also is looking further afield.
03:19It's been running this diplomatic campaign
03:21to strike agreements with various third countries.
03:25They say these are like-minded third countries.
03:28Is this campaign to strike these deals working?
03:31Well, the diplomatic offensive began in 2021
03:34with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with Canada,
03:36which I suppose you can quite happily call like-minded.
03:39and it's also a powerhouse of minerals production.
03:44They've followed with several others.
03:45The next one was Ukraine,
03:47and that was signed just six months before the Russian invasion.
03:51Since then, they've built up the number of these MOUs to 14,
03:54and they have other countries, including Rwanda,
03:57the Democratic Republic of Congo,
03:59and it's becoming more evident that there's a problem around
04:03the sort of moral questions around whether we should be doing business
04:06with a certain country, Rwanda has come into focus recently
04:09because the Rwandan military has been supporting rebel groups
04:13in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo,
04:16and there's been credible reports from the UN and NGOs
04:18that minerals are being smuggled across the border into Rwanda
04:21and then exported to Europe,
04:24and these are sort of known as conflict minerals.
04:27You can see the same moral questions arising in Ukraine
04:30because the EU has its Memorandum signed with Ukraine,
04:33but at the same time, the Trump administration
04:36has been pushing Ukraine to sign a deal with the US
04:39in exchange for continued military support,
04:42where they want access, essentially open access,
04:44to all of the Ukraine's mineral wealth.
04:45Thirteen EU countries have been selected for new raw materials projects,
04:50but domestic measures aren't enough.
04:52The EU has also struck partnerships on minerals
04:55with 14 world countries,
04:58including Australia, Chile, and the DRC.
05:02This is to reduce dependencies.
05:04For example, the EU relies on China for 100% of its rare earths,
05:09Turkey for 98% of boron,
05:12and South Africa for 71% of platinum.
05:16Joining me now to delve a little bit deeper
05:18into the Critical Raw Materials Act
05:20is Eduardo Rigetti,
05:21who is a researcher in energy resources and climate change
05:25at the CEPs think tank here in Brussels.
05:28The Critical Raw Materials Act was conceived
05:31to kind of support and underpin the European Green Deal,
05:33but now he's seeing a push to rearm Europe.
05:36Does this mean also that the act
05:38is becoming even more critical and strategic for the EU?
05:41Yeah, it is true that the aerospace and defense sectors
05:45also heavily depend on critical raw materials.
05:48Applications such as aircrafts or vessels and ammunition,
05:52as well as satellites and other space applications,
05:55all require materials like rare earths, graphite, cobalt, and others.
06:00One of the goals of the act
06:02is to actually increase the amount of critical raw materials
06:05that the EU recycles by the end of this decade.
06:08If this is a possibility and an attractive route for the EU,
06:13why are we not doing more of this, the recycling, already?
06:16For most of these materials, recycling rates are still relatively low,
06:20and this is because, from one side,
06:22we do not have enough technologies
06:25that have reached the end of life yet,
06:27but at the same time it's due to other more structural issues
06:30related to, for instance, technical issues with recycling,
06:33as well as the cost of recycling.
06:34Given that there is a potential trade war heating up
06:37between the two biggest world economies right now,
06:42do you think the EU needs to consider other policy options
06:46to address its vulnerability when it comes to sourcing raw materials?
06:51Now, there are several elements within the act
06:52that go in that direction,
06:54from the improvement of risk monitoring efforts,
06:58including through stress testing,
07:00but also the requirements for large companies using these materials.
07:03Now, all these elements,
07:05together with other medium- to long-term strategies,
07:08such as setting up partnerships with resource-rich countries,
07:11can help mitigate supply risks.
07:14But at the same time, of course,
07:15we know there's no one single silver bullet,
07:18and even setting up these systems will take time,
07:20especially in the EU.
07:21In an energy transition and a global arms race,
07:26the demand for minerals will only increase.
07:29But competition is aggressive
07:30and could revive historic inequalities.
07:34Trump is demanding access to Greenland,
07:36Canada and Ukraine's mineral wealth.
07:38In places like Myanmar
07:40and the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
07:42the mineral rush continues to drive conflict.
07:46The European Union still says
07:49it's counting on a secure and sustainable supply.