On Wednesday 24 November, a report by Hildegard Bentele (EPP, Germany) calling for increased exploitation and the opening up of mining and extraction activities on European territory to ensure greater autonomy for Europe was adopted by 543 votes to 52, with 94 abstentions.
Apart from an amendment tabled by the EPP, which was supported, the text remained unchanged from that voted in the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) (see EUROPE 12800/5). At a time when tensions over raw materials are rising and needs are exploding, MEPs are calling for action to make Europe more self-sufficient.
They call for recycling and the circular economy to be harnessed, for the assessment criteria in the list of critical raw materials to be extended to include environmental and social considerations, and - more controversially - for mining to be increased on European territory. Here, the adopted report puts safeguards in place, notably for activities in protected areas, to give more weight to local communities in the creation of new mines.
These last two points were hotly debated. The EPP has tabled two amendments in plenary: one to relax the conditions for operating in protected areas (amendment 27), including Natura 2000, and the second to give control back to the national level (amendment 28).
The first was adopted in plenary (390 votes to 277, 21 abstentions), much to the dismay of the Greens/EFA and The Left groups, both of whom argued in the debate on Monday 22 November for less need rather than more mining. The second amendment did not find its way to a vote.
The text received clear support from the EPP, S&D, Renew Europe, ECR, and ID. The vast majority of The Left and a part of the Greens/EFA (mainly French) voted against. The rest of the Greens/EFA and the French S&D delegation also abstained.
To view the report: https://bit.ly/3nNiqWK
To see the EPP group’s amendment 27 (adopted): https://bit.ly/3xhgs4g (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)