At the invitation of the German Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, Robert Habeck, the French Minister of Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty, Bruno Le Maire, and the Italian Minister of Enterprise and "Made in Italy", Adolfo Urso, will meet today in Berlin together with industry representatives from the three countries to exchange views on aspects of the sustainable supply of critical raw materials.

Minister Robert Habeck said, "We want to work together to make the supply of raw materials to our industries more sustainable and diversified, and to implement measures effectively. Better diversification of our raw material supply is economic security. Closer raw material cooperation is economic security. And that's exactly what we need to look at more closely. In concrete terms. In concrete terms, we therefore, should cooperate more closely in the areas of the extraction and processing of raw materials and jointly drive forward the circular economy. We also want to provide even better support for companies as they seek to secure a sustainable supply of raw materials. To this end, a working group on critical raw materials has been set up. The working group will exchange views on aspects of the sustainable supply of raw materials and, in particular, on the implementation of strategic projects in the extraction, processing and recycling of these raw materials."

“The meeting held in Berlin marks the opening of a new phase and the shaping of a European industrial policy for tackling all the challenges of the twin green and digital transition. This will ensure the EU strategic economy. Italy, Germany and France account for a significant portion of the Union economy, sharing value chains in many sectors. We represent one of the major global economic drivers. Together we can forge our future with the shared values of our common home.” Said Adolfo Urso Minister of enterprises and Made in Italy.

Bruno Le Maire, Minister of Economy, Finance and Recovery: “We cannot secure the twin ecological and digital transformations, if we cannot help our businesses secure access to the raw materials they critically need. While the CRM Act is a very important first step, our meeting on the 26th of June will provide us with the opportunity to discuss between governments, as well as with representatives of the industry, on how to go further. It is particularly crucial that we define concrete action on strategic projects and joint support, and that we discuss issues such as common stockpiling and joint purchasing. I am very confident that our cooperation will pave the way for a green and resilient Europe.”

Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and the Covid-19 pandemic have shown how dependent Germany, France, Italy and the EU are on individual countries, and especially China, for the extraction and processing of raw materials.

The industrial sectors in our three countries need a secure and sustainable supply of raw materials, and this is especially true for the technologies that are facilitating the green and digital transformations. The goal of the meeting is therefore to jointly identify measures on how our three countries can improve their cooperation to shore up a secure and sustainable supply of raw materials (especially critical raw materials) for European industry.

European legislation on critical raw materials (CRMA) is intended to provide a framework to reduce the European Union’s strategic dependence in this sector. The trilateral exchange will also address which measures and strategic projects in the field of the extraction, processing and recycling of critical raw materials will be necessary in order to break away from problematic dependencies.

This meeting kicks-off a new series of trilateral meetings between Germany, France and Italy, which are aimed at strengthening our cooperation on European-level strategic topics.

A supplementary communique with the core content of today's meeting on raw materials cooperation can be found here.