The pandemic and the systematic breakdown of the supply chain exposed the dependence of the Member States on the Chinese economy. It has done so in multiple aspects, with the lack of masks as an example of this, but also the rise in raw materials. And it is after that that the block has begun to reinforce the idea of strategic sovereignty. The President of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, has advocated this Tuesday for creating a Critical Raw Materials Club, with partners such as the United Kingdom or Canada to counteract the predominance of the Asian giant.
“We will work with our trading partners to cooperate in sourcing, production and processing to overcome the existing monopoly”, the German has introduced before putting on the table the idea of a Critical Raw Materials Club, with partners such as the United States, Canada or UK.
The idea is to “strengthen supply chains and diversify them from a single supplier”, explained the president of the European Commission. All of this taking into account that the European Semiconductor Law or the European Raw Materials Law were nothing more than the first step of the community Executive to move towards a community market less dependent on China.
Some Key Technologies
“In the case of rare earths, which are vital to manufacture key technologies such as wind generation, hydrogen storage or batteries; Europe today depends 98% on a single country: China”, the German company stated in its speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
In the case of lithium, as you have exemplified, only three countries account for 90% of the world’s lithium production, which has tightened its supply chain, raised prices and put the industry’s competitiveness at risk. european.
“We have to improve the refining, processing and recycling of raw materials here in Europe,” Von der Leyen added to the block’s list of tasks to advance its industrial sovereignty.
This article is authored by Lidia Montes.
