In relation to Russia, the EU is dependent on the old. China is a more difficult part, because there the EU is dependent on the new.
Janne Toivonen,
Alina Mäkynen
Barroso is an apt name for the region of northern Portugal, where Europe’s lithium counterattack against China is humming.
Portuguese Jose Manuel Barroso headed the EU Commission in 2004–2014. He spoke in favor of free trade, against protectionism, during his period punctuated by the economic and euro crisis.
José Manuel has no connections to Barroso’s area. The only thing in common is the name and world trade.
During Commissioner Barroso’s time, the world was open. Russia and China were friends of the EU.
When talking about Lithium-Barroso, the situation is becoming completely opposite.
The EU has listed 30 metals as critical, i.e. as important to them. China is by far the most important supplier of them at 19 (you switch to another service).
– Lithium and other rare metals are becoming the cornerstone of our economy instead of oil and gas. The worse news is that one country dominates their trade, the current president of the commission Ursula von der Leyen said in September (you switch to another service).
The need for critical metals in the EU in 2030 is estimated to be five times as much as now. Without lithium, there are no batteries for mobile phones, electric cars or wind turbines.
Getting out of oil and gas can eventually be child’s play.
When we break away from Russia, we break away from the old. When we break away from China, we break away from a new one.
China has gone crazy busy this week, just as President Xi Jinping was elected to his third term as the country’s leader.
The Chinese state shipping company Cosco almost managed to buy a quarter of the great and mighty port of Hamburg – even though everyone in the EU is asking WHY IN THE MIRACLE – and on the other hand, China demanded the Belgian foreign minister Hadja Lahbibi to shut his mouth.
Lahbib had singled out the Brussels professor attention (you switch to another service)that Chinese merchant ships are also designed for military use and that Belgium should take its own security into account more.
There is nothing new in the episode as such, because China is sensitive to politics. But now the atmosphere in the EU has changed.
The EU craves it which China also produces, but Made in Europe.
There would be heaps of lithium in Barroso’s bedrock, as well as in Central Ostrobothnia’s Kausti, where Keliber will soon open its own mine.
The Keliberi mine is in the korve, far from the settlement, and it has not been objected to even by name.
It is different on a densely populated continent. Barroso is a backwoods by Portuguese standards, but an active movement opposes the mine and the environmental permit has not been released yet.
In the end, that’s about it of painful choices.
The EU is used to the fact that the raw materials it needs are mined elsewhere, so far away that mining dust and wastewater do not reach Europe.
Now we are on the verge of a new one. Lithium must be dug out of the ground where it exists and bear the consequences, or recycling must be brought to a completely different level than it is now.
The topic is on the surface, as the French president recently also spoke about it Emmanuel Macron. According to Macron, France also plans to open “responsible” lithium mines, whatever the word responsible means here.
Tendon
Colleague Alina Mäkynen collected less than turps about the week’s European topics.
COMING NEXT WEEK
EU TRADE MINISTERS meet on Monday in an informal in a meeting (you switch to another service) in Prague. This time, the ministers are talking about trade agreements and especially trade relations between the EU and the United States.
TUESDAY Danes vote in the parliamentary elections (you switch to another service), which the unpopular Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced at the beginning of October. You can follow the discussion of the election results on channels on Wednesday.
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