RESourceEU plan

Key points

The EESC:

• supports the RESourceEU Action Plan as a key step towards strengthening the resilience of the EU’s critical raw materials value chains and reducing strategic dependencies;
• recommends a balanced approach combining increased European production capacity, stronger circularity measures, responsible international partnerships, competitive energy prices, workable regulatory frameworks, and strong environmental and social safeguards;
• supports faster permitting procedures for strategic European projects to accelerate the development of critical raw materials value chains within the EU;
• recommends reducing structurally high industrial energy prices and facilitating long-term renewable power purchase agreements (PPAs) for energy-intensive industries;
• supports electrification measures under the Clean Industrial State Aid Framework, while maintaining the effectiveness of the EU ETS;
• recommends ensuring that initiatives such as the EU Taxonomy improve access to finance for strategic projects linked to critical raw materials;
• stresses that the upcoming revision of the Water Framework Directive must not result in any lowering of environmental protection standards;
• supports improving the recycling and reuse of critical raw materials to strengthen EU resource security and reduce waste exports;
• recommends establishing clear definitions for waste and secondary raw materials to facilitate recycling, recovery, and investment certainty;
•  recommends strengthening EU material value chains through a combination of increased domestic production, higher recycling rates, eco-design measures, and improved material efficiency;
• supports the use of strategic stockpiling as a complementary measure that should not replace EU domestic production, processing, and recycling capacity;
• recommends improving transparency in raw materials governance through better monitoring of material flows, stock levels, and allocation decisions;
• supports diversifying supply chains through balanced international partnerships while simultaneously strengthening EU extraction, processing, refining, and recycling capacities.