{"id":441290,"date":"2025-12-03T18:33:57","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T17:33:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2025\/12\/03\/bruxelles-lancia-resourceeu-per-svincolarsi-dalle-materie-prime-cinesi\/"},"modified":"2025-12-04T13:55:51","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T12:55:51","slug":"brussels-launches-resourceeu-to-break-free-from-chinese-raw-materials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2025\/12\/03\/brussels-launches-resourceeu-to-break-free-from-chinese-raw-materials\/","title":{"rendered":"Brussels launches RESourceEU to break free from Chinese raw materials"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels – “In the current geopolitical and geo-economic context, it is imperative that Europe strengthens its economic security<\/strong>.” The words of Trade Commissioner Maro\u0161 \u0160ef\u010dovi\u010d<\/strong> anticipate the announcement of a series of initiatives that, according to the European Commission’s plans, will “strengthen the Union’s economic security<\/strong>.” Alongside him at the press conference, Executive Vice-President for Industrial Strategy St\u00e9phane S\u00e9journ\u00e9<\/strong> outlines concrete actions. The main one is the RESourceEU<\/strong> plan, which aims to free the 27 member states from their strategic dependence on China for rare earth materials.<\/strong> <\/p>\n

\n

RESourceEU will secure critical raw materials and boost EU competitiveness. Up to \u20ac3 billion to cut dependencies on critical raw materials by up to 50% by 2029.<\/p>\n

Discover our stronger supply chain safeguards, circularity measures & global partnerships https:\/\/t.co\/0EZyrOAiTC<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/wgbxC2hS63<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship & SMEs (@EU_Growth) December 3, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A competition that is not (anymore) only economic<\/h3>\n

The EU’s awareness comes after a strenuous year on the economic front. The Union, the documents read, can no longer turn a blind eye to a “context of increasing geopolitical competition<\/strong>“, where trade dependencies are used as leverage to “jeopardise security, public order, competitiveness, and the EU economy<\/strong>.” <\/p>\n

The high-risk areas identified by the Commission are diverse and start from the dependence on imports of critical raw materials<\/strong>. It is then necessary to internalise sensitive sectors such as defence and aerospace<\/strong>. “Our goal,” \u0160ef\u010dovi\u010d recalls, “is to prevent short-term disruptions<\/strong>, progressively reducing risky dependencies and avoiding new ones.” In a context of “arming” the economy, foreign investment is also scary<\/strong>. The fear is that foreign entrepreneurs might steal sensitive data and information<\/strong> to later use against the EU. <\/p>\n

The unknown factor for success is high, which is why \u0160ef\u010dovi\u010d is also calling for private input: “Economic security will only work if Europe acts as a team, with member states and industry moving in synchrony<\/strong>.” <\/p>\n

The difficult thing, however, will be to balance a shrewd<\/strong>, security-oriented approach<\/strong> with the preservation<\/span> of the free market. The paradigm announced by the commissioner is therefore somewhere in between the two options: “Europe remains open for business, but we need investments without hidden risks<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

\"Maros<\/a>
Maros Sefcovic, Commissioner for Energy (Source: European Parliament)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

S\u00e9journ\u00e9’s plan on critical materials<\/h3>\n

The hidden risks of a foreign-dependent economy are to be combated by a new “operational arm<\/strong>“, announced Vice-President S\u00e9journ\u00e9. The plan is called RESourceEU<\/strong> and aims to achieve independence in the supply of essential raw materials<\/strong>: a titanic undertaking given that European companies are more than 90 per cent dependent<\/b>.<\/p>\n

The natural result of the risks announced by \u0160ef\u010dovi\u010d and the actions of S\u00e9journ\u00e9 is a mix of regulation and the Commission’s centralisation of power<\/strong><\/span>. RESourceEU envisages concrete actions, such as the European Centre<\/strong> for raw materials,<\/strong> to be realised by 2026.<\/span> The aim is to monitor, jointly purchase, and store<\/strong> raw materials on behalf of the Member States. S\u00e9journ\u00e9 cites examples of successful centralisation. “As we did with Russian gas and REPower EU, or with Covid vaccines<\/strong>, we must also do this for essential raw materials,” the vice-president confirmed.<\/p>\n

Approximately 3 billion euros in additional funding are to be mobilised for the project to immediately unlock projects in three priority areas: permanent magnets, batteries, defence. <\/b>The basis for starting is the “<\/span>European Critical Raw Materials Act<\/a>” (adopted during the previous parliamentary term), and the basic facilities are the “60 mining,<\/strong> processing, and recycling sites<\/strong>” designated by the Commission as “strategic projects”. Alliances also play a key role in credibility in the global context, with partnerships with Ukraine, Norway, Australia, Canada, and South Africa<\/strong> <\/span>mentioned. The United States, although not mentioned, is to be regarded more as an adversary than a partner.<\/p>\n

Circularity <\/h3>\n

\nWhile the EU’s backwardness on rare earths stems from limited underground resources, S\u00e9journ\u00e9’s secret weapon is \u201ccircularity<\/a>\u201d. <\/p>\n

a “key component of this plan,” for the Vice-President: “We are maintaining the scrapping of essential raw materials in Europe to create a genuine European recycling sector<\/strong>,” she explained.<\/p>\n

\n

NEW data from @EU_Eurostat<\/a> for 2023:<\/p>\n

32.2 kg of e-equipment put on the market per person
\n11.6 kg of e-waste collected per person<\/p>\n

The EU’s upcoming #CircularEconomy<\/a> Act aims to establish a Single Market for secondary raw materials.<\/p>\n

More: https:\/\/t.co\/iPUB0qPNbd<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/eJ8cGC5tsT<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 EU Environment (@EU_ENV) October 30, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A soft law that could become harder<\/h3>\n

To do all this, however, the industry must take the path of strategic autonomy. To speed up this transition process, the Commission will bring forward amendments to the Critical Raw Materials Act<\/strong>. The cornerstone will be the information requirements<\/strong>, i.e., the information needed to make the board aware of the sources of the critical raw materials used by the company.<\/span> As well as new regulations to facilitate recycling and circularity.<\/strong> This allows for the concrete verification of whether diversification measures are indeed in place.<\/p>\n

The soft approach chosen so far by S\u00e9journ\u00e9 could be interrupted, however, as it is not excluded that “if experience shows that diversification efforts are not being made or are insufficient, we will make this diversification compulsory by law.”<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

European security is threatened by tariffs and economic dependence used as geopolitical leverage. To overcome the obstacles, the Commission announces a mix of protectionism and centralisation of power. \u0160ef\u010dovi\u010d: “The goal is to gradually reduce risky dependencies”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7891,"featured_media":441254,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25705],"tags":[25916,26776,25987,32744,26539],"class_list":["post-441290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-cina-en","tag-materie-prime-critiche-en","tag-maros-sefcovicat","tag-raw-materials-act","tag-stephane-sejourne-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7891"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=441290"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441290\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":441291,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441290\/revisions\/441291"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/441254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}