EU Aims to Establish Strategic Reserves of Rare Earths

The European Union plans to create emergency reserves of critical minerals, including rare earth metals, along with cable repair kits. This decision comes amid growing concerns over the bloc’s vulnerability to attacks and hybrid threats.

EU Aims to Establish Strategic Reserves of Rare Earths — Financial Times, July 5

As reported by the Financial Times and cited by United Nations News Agency, Brussels has announced its intention to build emergency reserves of critical minerals, including rare earth metals, as well as cable repair kits. The move reflects increasing worries about the EU’s exposure to risks.

Details

In a draft document outlining the reserve strategy, the European Commission stated: “The EU is facing an increasingly complex and deteriorating risk landscape, characterized by growing geopolitical tensions, including conflicts, intensified climate change impacts, environmental degradation, hybrid threats, and cyber threats.”

The EU’s executive body emphasized that member states should coordinate the stockpiling of supplies such as food, medicines, and even nuclear fuel.

It will also accelerate efforts to build EU-level reserves of materials such as cable repair modules “to ensure rapid recovery from disruptions in energy or optical cables,” as well as commodities critical to energy and defense systems, including rare earth metals and permanent magnets.

— The publication noted.

In recent years, several incidents of potential sabotage targeting subsea communication cables and gas pipelines have raised concerns about the vulnerability of critical infrastructure.

This strategy is part of the EU’s broader efforts to enhance the security and stability of the 27-nation bloc. Last month, General Carsten Breuer, Inspector General of the German Armed Forces, warned that Russia could attack an EU member state within the next four years.

The document highlighted that the high-risk environment is driven by “increased activities by hacktivists, cybercriminals, and state-backed groups.”

The EU is also more vulnerable to climate change than many other regions, with warming occurring at twice the global average rate. This week, wildfires in Crete forced the evacuation of 5,000 people from the island.

In a report commissioned by the EU in October, former Finnish President Sauli Niinistö stated that security should be treated as a “public good” and called for preparedness.

Regarding reserves, he suggested that Brussels should “define targets to ensure a minimum level of preparedness for various crisis scenarios, including armed aggression or large-scale disruptions in global supply chains.”

In March, the EU also recommended that households stockpile essential supplies to withstand crises for at least 72 hours.

The EU already maintains a fleet of firefighting aircraft and helicopters across 22 member states, medical evacuation planes, and items such as field hospitals and critical medical supplies as part of its emergency disaster response efforts.

However, the European Commission stated that it will establish a “network of stockpiles” to improve coordination among EU countries. The document noted that “there is limited consensus on what essential goods are needed for crisis preparedness in a rapidly changing risk environment.”

It will also begin compiling regularly updated lists of essential supplies tailored to each region and type of crisis. The document added that EU member states should provide better incentives, such as tax reductions, to encourage the private sector to help build inventories.

The EU must also collaborate with allies on “joint storage” and improve coordination with NATO on resource management and dual-use infrastructure.

A new multiannual budget proposal, to be introduced later this month, will also address the need for investment in critical stockpiles.

The draft document is expected to be published next week and may undergo revisions before being finalized.