This morning, Italy and Germany sent a policy document on critical raw materials to the European Commission, revitalizing Europe’s commitment to the sector with the aim of mitigating strategic dependencies and building secure supply chains for European companies.
The initiative was taken by Foreign Minister Tajani and German Foreign Minister Wadephul ahead of tomorrow’s meeting on critical minerals organized by the United States. It follows the commitments made by the two Foreign Ministers at the Italy-Germany Summit of January 23 and the Declaration signed by Ministers Urso and Reiche on critical raw materials.
The document emphasizes the advisability for the EU to collaborate closely with the United States, other like-minded partners (G7+), and third countries – particularly Africa, the Indo-Pacific, and Latin America – that are willing and able to contribute to mutually beneficial partnerships between end-users, processors, and producers along the supply chains of critical raw materials. Tomorrow’s meeting in Washington provides a particularly timely opportunity to move along this direction.
Italy and Germany will closely coordinate their positions in various international forums, expressing their full support for the European Union’s negotiations to establish a partnership with the United States on critical minerals in the coming weeks.
The document also calls for investment in capacity development, storage, increased recycling, and technological innovation, while warning that reducing dependencies, to protect our economic security, cannot be achieved without additional costs. These costs must be predictable, fairly shared among like-minded partners, and compatible with the competitiveness of our industrial systems.
