The position of the EU in global mineral interactions:POLINARES Working Paper n. 70; December 2012

This paper aims to provide an overview of the current status of EU non-energy raw materials policy and subsequent attempts by the EU to address risks and challenges in order to increase the potential for long-term enhancement. Previous POLINARES Workpackages had identified certain risks and challenges to the EU accessibility of natural resources, with security of supply identified as a significant threat to continued EU competitiveness. This paper builds upon these findings by examining the reasons for its evolvement into its current state, and investigating existing EU institutional capabilities (or lack thereof), specifically with regard to non-energy raw materials policy. The paper further examines the policy responses that aims to address those challenges, and the proposed introduction of a common EU mineral policy. Active internal relations between the EU Member States, as well as active external relations with certain strategic raw material producing regions, is emphasized as crucial prerequisites for the successful implementation of such a policy initiative. Mechanisms, such as regional development cooperation and collaboration are briefly reviewed as to lay a foundation for further detailed discussions in the subsequent case studies in Chapter 5