Speaking in the European Parliament’s joint debate on EU-China relations, Daniele Polato – ECR Coordinator in the International Trade Committee – warned against Europe’s strategic dependency on Chinese raw materials and called for an ambitious European mining policy to strengthen industrial resilience.

“We should take the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of our bilateral relations to reflect on the mistakes we in Europe have made over the years,” Polato said.

Highlighting China’s dominant role in rare earth element (REE) supply chains, Polato urged the EU to act: “Our response must begin with what made our economy strong in the first place: know-how, entrepreneurship, and production. We need a fresh industrial push. We need a European mining policy that reduces our vulnerabilities.”

Polato criticised past policy choices in Europe that dismantled entire industrial sectors, such as automotive manufacturing, in pursuit of ideological goals, adding: “By pursuing ideological visions, we dismantled entire sectors of our productive economy – such as the automotive industry – in the name of futuristic promises that are now turning out to be uncomfortable realities. We allowed entire strategic supply chains to become hostage to our dependency on third countries for critical raw materials.”

“It is time to change course,” he said.

In April, China introduced new export restrictions on seven rare earth elements and related magnets used in defence, energy, and automotive manufacturing – officially as a reaction to US tariff hikes, but with global effect.

The debate, held ahead of the upcoming EU-China summit later this month, included statements by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Denmark’s Minister for European Affairs Marie Bjerre on behalf of the Council. MEPs also discussed the latest Chinese export restrictions on critical raw materials, with a resolution vote scheduled for Thursday.

With demand for REEs rising, the ECR Group urges the EU to turn talk of strategic autonomy into tangible policy measures.