A new narrative for Europe’s competitiveness on critical raw materials

The Mario Draghi Report, commissioned to assess the future competitiveness of Europe, emphasizes the urgency of securing strategic autonomy by focusing on critical raw materials (CRMs) and strengthening Europe’s position in the global market, particularly vis-à-vis China and the United States. However, the report frames economic security and competitiveness within a narrow lens of perpetual growth, sidelining essential aspects such as environmental sustainability, social justice, and the need for a more profound circular economy. This approach risks exacerbating the overexploitation of resources, which comes with crossing planetary boundaries and increasing inequalities in resource access globally and a linear supply chain model where midstream and downstream industrial processes are hosted outside the countries where metals and minerals are mined. Moreover, this growth-driven model, despite claims to foster win-win partnerships with the Global South, would ultimately function as a neo-colonial framework, limiting other regions’ ability to pursue ecologically balanced industrial policies.

Considering that the mission letters of the future Commissioners reference the Draghi report, and with upcoming discussions on the report within European Institutions, it becomes critical to provide a solution-based response to the misguided recommendations. This presents an opportunity to advocate for radically alternative perspectives that integrate sustainability, human rights, and global justice into the EU’s competitiveness framework. A new narrative is certainly needed, but it has to be one that respects planetary limits and promotes global equity.