Latest news with #SaraMatthieu
Yahoo
25-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
EU Commission accused of mining secrecy in scramble for raw materials
*Article updated with European Commission's reply The European Commission has failed to ensure adequate public consultation in its scramble to approve projects to mine critical raw materials, according to four Green/EFA MEPs who claim the executive has rebuffed requests for information and that they are mulling legal action against the executive. The EU adopted a Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) last May, listing minerals such as lithium and cobalt essential for electric cars and other clean energy applications, as well as digital and weapons technology. The EU is attempting to reduce dependency on single suppliers for these - such as China and the US - with the implementation of 60 extraction projects: 47 in the EU soil and 13 outside the Union. China's leadership in raw material extraction and production offer fierce competition to EU ambitions for production of electric vehicles and clean tech products. MEPs Maria Ohisalo, Sara Matthieu, Majdouline Sbaï and Ana Miranda, sought information on mining projects they considered problematic 'Despite several requests by MEPs and NGOs we have not been given access or provided information about the assessments of selected or upcoming projects,' the MEPs told Euronews, adding: 'We believe that transparency in these matters is not only a legal obligation, but an integral part of institutional accountability." Related EU Commission unveils 13 targets for overseas raw materials projects Monitoring group has become an 'empty shell', claims MEP 'While the European Parliament has observer status in the CRM board, relevant information on the choice of projects has not reached us,' the French MEP Majdouline Sbaï from Les Ecologistes told Euronews. The Critical Raw Material (CRM) board is a monitoring group (MG) within the European Parliament committee for international trade established to offer MEPs access to confidential Commission information regarding trade. 'Since the start of the mandate, at least in the CRM MG, but I would say in all the monitoring groups we followed, the Commission keeps repeating information that is already made public. These MGs have thus become empty shells,' Sbaï told Euronews. The four MEPs sent a letter to the Commission in early May, seen by Euronews, asking access to the impact assessments of the mining projects. In addition, they also requested the names of the independent experts who conducted the assessments to verify their impartiality, the exact geographical locations of the projects, and details on how the Commission plans to monitor their progress. The MEPs told Euronews they received a response later in May from Kerstin Jorna, the European Commission's Director-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs, which they described as vague and evasive. Euronews approached the Commission for a comment, and a spokesperson said that "the Commission decision is available on the website, along with an interactive map of selected projects. Please note that in line with Article 46 of the Critical Raw Material Act, trade and business secrets of received applications must be kept confidential". On the experts, the Commission spokesperson said "To protect the independent assessment process and the privacy of the experts, the expert names are not disclosed publicly". The projects The six projects eyeballed by the MEPs are: the Mina Doade in Spain; the Barroso mining project in Portugal; the Sakatti project in Finland; another in the Allier region of France, and two outside the EU, in Serbia and New Caledonia. Recursos Minerales de Galicia initially had its 2018 mining project for the 'Alberta I' area rejected by regional authorities in 2020. In 2024, the company resubmitted the project under the name 'Mina Doade', and it has since been approved by the European Commission under the CRM. Another project approved by the Commission is located in protected marshlands in Viiankiaapa, Finland. The site forms part of the EU Natura 2000 network of sites designated for bird and biodiversity conservation. 'Mining does not belong to protected areas,' Finnish MEP Maria Ohisalo told Euronews, claiming that mining such an area 'destroys the very basis of nature conservation'. A €1 billion lithium project in France's Allier region, set to be the country's largest mining operation in decades, is sparking local controversy. Over five months of public debates, residents have raised concerns about water contamination, high energy use, and chemical risks. Related Inside the industrial heartland where France wants to build a €1 billion lithium project 'Fast-tracking extraction without pursuing strategies to moderate demand for raw materials and seeking consent of local communities is a recipe for disaster,' Belgian MEP Sara Matthieu told Euronews. Similar concerns were raised for a project in Serbia where a year ago, the Jadar mining project was unblocked to become the EU's largest supplier of lithium, amid strong protests.
Euronews
05-02-2025
- Business
- Euronews
EU metalworkers demand job protections amid green transition
Discontented metalworkers from across Europe gathered in Brussels on Wednesday to express concern over job security during the continent's green transition. They are calling for the EU's new industrial policy to include stronger protections for workers and their families within the sector. One key demand is for the EU to prioritise effective training and retraining programmes, even if it means reducing working hours to accommodate these initiatives. Lieve De Preter, president of ACV-CSC METEA in Belgium, stated that workers transitioning to a climate-neutral industry require enhanced training. She emphasised the importance of trade unions' involvement in discussions to facilitate this shift towards a sustainable manufacturing sector. 'Just Transition Fund' found to be lacking Since 2019, nearly one million industrial jobs have been lost in the EU. Trade unions warn that employers are masking the true scale of the crisis through short-term contracts and reduced working hours, which could result in up to 4.3 million job losses. Recent months have seen more than 100,000 jobs put at risk, with major companies like Germany's ThyssenKrupp and Volkswagen leading announcements of factory closures and redundancies. To support the transition, the EU established the 'Just Transition Fund' as part of its Green Deal, allocating €17.5 billion. Although this is a large amount, the fund still faces challenges in addressing the transition's problematic issues. Sara Matthieu, a Belgian MEP for the Greens, acknowledged the value of the Just Transition Fund but argued that it is insufficient for its intended purposes. She advocated for expanding the resources, particularly targeting regions where the transition has yet to begin. "A robust fund is crucial to supporting sectors in transition and ensuring workers benefit from the process," she told Euronews. Trade union representatives also got in touch with the European Commissioner for Industrial Strategy, Stéphane Séjourné, urging the drafting of a directive on fair transitions. They expect this future directive to force companies to collaborate closely with trade unions in anticipating and managing change. What is the 'Just Transition Fund' and how is it financed? The Just Transition Fund (JTF) is a financial instrument established by the European Union in 2021 to facilitate a transition towards a sustainable, carbon-neutral future by 2050. The fund aims to support all member states under the cohesion policy, focusing on economic diversification and reconversion in regions affected by the shift away from carbon-intensive activities. It is financed through a combination of grants and loans. The €17.5 billion budget is for the period 2021-2027. This includes funding from the EU budget and contributions from member states. The financing structure comprises approximately €1.3 billion in grants from the EU budget, along with €6-8 billion in loans from the European Investment Bank (EIB), and additional resources can be transferred from national allocations under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+)
