The next informal meeting of the EU ministers of industry in Lens will be devoted to the issue of strategic metals, said the French Minister Delegate for Industry, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, at the end of the conference on industry and strategic autonomy organised by the French Presidency of the EU Council on Thursday 13 January.
At the end of her closing speech, the minister announced that the industry ministers of the EU Member States will be invited to discuss the issue of strategic metal supply. Three questions will be asked: - how to secure EU supplies from outside Europe; - how to develop the circular economy to conserve resources that have entered Europe; - how to extract minerals and metals in Europe.
For the minister, the Presidency’s first issue in the area of the Internal Market and Industry will be access to critical materials to develop new production chains. European autonomy on critical raw materials needed for batteries, semiconductors, permanent magnets and special alloys used in aeronautics must be strengthened, she said.
For the French minister, Europe needs to invest at the same level as its non-European competitors, it must improve regulations on traceability and develop a benchmark on “responsible mining”.
Furthermore, the minister insisted on the important projects of common European interest (IPCEI) (see EUROPE 12867/6), on European industrial alliances and on the financing of ecosystems (with a special focus on medium-sized industries). She also placed an emphasis on foreign subsidies and the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. (Original version in French by Pascal Hansens)