Commissioner Breton addressing the High-Level Representatives of the Critical Raw Materials Board

Commissioner Breton addressing Critical Raw Materials Board

Dear high-level representatives to the Board,

Dear Nicola Beer,

Dear participants,

Good evening to all of you,

Welcome to the Berlaymont building for such an important day.

Our gathering tonight marks both the final outcome of a high-speed legislative process and the beginning of a new industrial chapter.

In March 2023, after several months of intense preparation, the Commission proposed an ambitious framework, to address Europe's dependencies on critical raw materials.

And only 8 months later, thanks to the fantastic work by the European Parliament and its rapporteur, Nicola, and by the Swedish and Spanish Presidencies, the co-legislators found a political agreement on this proposal.

And here we are now. Tomorrow, the Critical Raw Materials Act will enter into force.

This is quite an achievement. It is proof of our shared willingness to provide Europe with a secured, abundant and sustainable supply of raw materials.

[Giving Europe agency over its transition]

Alongside the Net-zero Industry Act and the Chips Act, the Critical Raw Materials Actforms the regulatory tryptic of a new European industrial policy approach.

These three Acts have been devised to support our industry like no other instruments have done before.

They provide a collective European ambition with manufacturing capacity targets (20 % of global demand for semiconductors, 40% of European demand in clean tech). And of course, our very own capacity benchmarks forstrategic raw materials: 10% of demand covered by 2030 at extraction stage, 40% at refining stage, and 25% at recycling stage.

But these laws are much more than targets. They provide the means of achieving them. They allow for a shock of simplificationthrough short permitting deadlines and single points of contact. And they facilitate public funding to foster private investment.

Of course, the story does not end here. We must carry the momentum forward, even more so as the geopolitical situation remains volatile. Coercion and the weaponization of our dependencies are becoming common practice. I'm thinking of China, for instance: since the Commission published its proposal, China has imposed export restrictions on gallium, germanium and graphite and a ban on rare earth extraction and separation technologies.

Besides, nickel producers are facing difficulties due to low prices and overproduction in China and Indonesia.

In response to China's practices, the United States have just increased tariffs on critical minerals from China. All this goes to show that raw materials have never been so geostrategic.

In this context, Europe must accelerate its own efforts, domestically and in partnership with third countries, to increase its resilience and secure its twin transition.

[Harnessing the new dynamic]

And the good news – because after all, we are here to celebrate – is that we now have the means to accelerate the work; we have strong enabling conditions for ramping up our production capacities, from mining to refining and recycling.

At the upstream stage, geological explorationis increasingly showing the potential forcritical raw material extraction in the EU. We have significant resources available for lithium, rare earths, graphite, magnesium, and many more. Little by little, European Member States are rediscovering their underground potential. And in Europe, we can do so our own way, in line with our standards and values. In other words, with the highest environmental and social standards.

We are also receiving positive signals around an increasing number of projects focussed on processing and recycling. Some projects are already ongoing, sometimes with EU support, for instance to recycle rare earth permanent magnets in Estonia. And the mere fact that more than 1000 people followed the information session on strategic projects at the end of April shows the readiness to invest.

In parallel, we have the means to diversify our imports, thanks to the 12 strategic partnerships we have signed with third countries. Because, it goes without saying – but I will say it anyway – we have no intention to produce everything ourselves. We want to continue to rely on strong partners at all stages of the value chain.

Such partnerships are already delivering on concrete projects, the most recent example being the agreement between a Congolese mining company and a European processing and recycling company thatestablishes a long-term and mutually beneficial partnership to increase supply of germanium to the EU.

Be it in Europe or in third countries, we won't achieve this without public and private investors. Here as well, we see renewed interest, including the announcement of dedicated public funds in several Member States, or the work conducted by the European Investment Bank under the leadership of Nicola Beer to reorganise its activities and facilitate the de-risking of projects.

So you see, a new dynamic is taking shape. This is where the European Critical Raw Materials Board comes in, in particular whenit comes to the selection of the Strategic projects.

As you know, these projects, when selected,will benefit from streamlined permitting and facilitated access to financing. They will help Europe achieve its ambitious targets, be it for domestic extraction, processing, recycling or supply diversification.

Tomorrow we will launch the call for applications for strategic projects, open to all project promoters. The deadline for application is set for the end of August.

You will have the opportunity, tomorrow, to discuss concretely about the whole processand conditions to be fulfilled.

You will also discuss about risk monitoring and strategic stocks, and coordination at EU level on these essential activities.

In parallel, we started implementing the other dimensions of the Critical Raw Materials Act. Including taking some first measures to facilitate the aggregation of demand and joint purchasing of raw materials, where needed. Here again, the Commission has not waited for the entry into force of the Act to take some first actions, with an ongoing public consultation to identify priority needs.

We are also putting in place the Raw Materials Academy that will prepare learning and training programmes so that all the new projects that will emerge can find the necessary skilled workers.

But for now, I want to thank you all for being here today; for your dedication to helping Europe take its destiny in its own hands.

The Critical Raw Materials Board will have an essential role in coming months and years, and there is no better way to start the implementation of the CRMA than to meet with all of you.

More than ever, we will need stamina, political courage and confidence. And I see lots of this in the audience today.

Thank you.