The European Commission announced on Tuesday 29 September the launch of a new European Raw Materials Alliance (ERMA) to strengthen the European Union’s strategic autonomy in the European land and magnet value chains.
Thus, the Commission is taking an important first step announced in the Industrial Strategy (see EUROPE 12561/8) and the Action Plan on Critical Raw Materials (see EUROPE 12552/1). The new alliance will be managed by KIC-EIT RawMaterials, an EU-funded organisation with actors from more than 20 Member States and with headquarters in Berlin.
The latter organisation will itself be led by the European Commission through the European Raw Materials Innovation Partnership, a platform bringing together all stakeholders (industry, public services, academia and NGOs) and whose primary mission is to provide advice and guidance to the European Commission, Member States and private stakeholders. The Commission stated in its communiqué that it was necessary to adhere to the Alliance’s declaration in order to be able to incorporate it.
Commissioner for the Internal Market Thierry Breton reiterated that the EU’s aim was certainly not to “isolate itself” from the rest of the world, but simply to have “choice” by avoiding “undesirable dependencies”.
Announcement welcomed by industry and denounced by NGOs
Whether European Metals, representing the European metallurgy sector, Europe Aluminium, CSR Europe, a European network of companies committed to the Green Deal, or ASD, the European association of the European aeronautics, space, defence and security industries, they all welcomed the launch of this Alliance.
On the contrary, the European association Friends of the Earth, along with 234 other organisations, recently sent an open letter to the Commission asking it to review its plan as soon as possible. For these NGOs, it is indeed more urgent to reduce consumption and, above all, to respect the rights of local communities when they oppose a mining project.
For his part, French MEP Christophe Grudler (Renew Europe) welcomed the launch of the Alliance, but did not fail to point out the lack of coherence among member states, which at the same time drastically reduced the budget of the Horizon Europe framework programme, which is essential for research and innovation, especially in recycling (see EUROPE 12532/6).
To consult the Alliance statement: https://bit.ly/3ifhOmK (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)