On Monday 2 February, the European Commission played down the findings of the European Court of Auditors on supply strategies for critical raw materials for the energy transition, which it had strongly criticised (see EUROPE 13799/3).
“Boosting the EU’s critical raw materials policy efforts in line with industrial priorities is one of our top priorities and a guarantee of our strategic autonomy”, said the Commission on 2 February. However, the “report focuses on clean transition energy, which is just a part of our industrial needs on CRMs (critical raw materials) and based their assessment on data, in majority collected before the implementation of the Critical Raw Material Acts, which is the core legislation of our policy on the matter”.
The points raised by the Court of Auditors in its assessment have already been largely taken into account in the RESourceEU action plan, presented on 3 December.
And “while MoUs are long-term frameworks that de-risk investment and improve governance rather than instant import guarantees, evidence already shows impact. EU-Canada cooperation has deepened value-chain integration, with post-CETA (2017–2023) EU imports of key CRMs rising (lithium +11%, graphite +33%, manganese +28%, rare earths +24%) and particularly strong growth in battery materials from Canada (cobalt +211%, nickel +40%, lithium +27%)”. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)