Poland’s first industry congress in Warsaw signalled a bureaucratic breakthrough, but critics highlighted a lack of concrete measures. The European Commission warns of the EU’s 90 percent dependency on Chinese critical raw materials.
Polish industry, at its first congress in Warsaw (June 22–23), signaled a bureaucratic breakthrough in overcoming the crisis affecting our country’s economy. One symptom of the improving situation for Poland’s energy-intensive industry is to be a document being prepared by the Ministry of Energy entitled „Action Plan for the Sustainable Development of the Steel Industry in Poland,” which is to be published „in the near future.”
The announcement of this plan was well received by congress participants. Demands were directed at the government to hold debates and talks, make arrangements and development plans that would remove all obstacles on the path to the country’s industrial development. The preferred methods appear to be an effective political undertaking, designed for short-term media and information impact, but having little to do with the actual industrial development of the country – something that, at least in the coverage of this event, seems to have gone unnoticed. Write to Berdyczów.
One of the strongest highlights of this congress was an appeal addressed to the Prime Minister and members of the government. Industry representatives emphasized that entrepreneurs are ready to cooperate in developing solutions for the Polish economy and the energy transition.
Here we are faithful continuators of the convention adopted in the European Union for overcoming all difficulties through documents, decrees, directives, and other orders and instructions flowing from Brussels. This is the classic modus operandi of EU institutions, which we are trying to implement into our economic system. The difference is that the EU introduces this system on a global scale, while we are trying to catch up with the EU only locally. Examples are not lacking.
Paper war with China
Repeated attempts to break free from Chinese supplies of critical minerals have not changed this situation, and have even deepened this dependence. They were undertaken in the classic form of this institution – through bureaucratic actions consisting of creating ever-new classifications, concluding alliance agreements, and creating favorable conditions for their extraction and refining on their own territory.
The latest initiative in this direction is a legislative initiative being prepared by the European Commission concerning the establishment of a European Critical Raw Materials Centre, aimed at strengthening supply security, reducing dependence on concentrated import sources, and equipping EU industry with tools to respond to supply chain disruptions.
No specifics
The general framework of this type of EU legal act has the characteristic that it does not specify any concrete proposals or deadlines for their implementation. This means that every such bureaucratic action is perceived as active counteraction to the aforementioned dependence on Chinese imports. Since for nearly a decade similar initiatives have brought no improvement, among competent EU officials there is a growing effort to move from a policy of declarations to implementation based on specifics.
Frustration
The Euro News portal reported at the end of May, during the EIT RawMaterials summit in Brussels, that Koen Doens, head of the European Commission’s department for international partnerships, said that in the global race for critical raw materials, it is no longer about access to minerals, but about energy, in the face of the European bloc’s heavy dependence on China.
He justified this by stating that power will end up in the hands of those who control extraction, refining, processing, transport standards, financing, and ultimately industrial potential. The Belgian official argued that in the race for climate neutrality, minerals such as lithium, cobalt, and graphite have the same strategic value as oil and gas in the 20th century, citing the growing geopolitical interest in rare earth elements.
He argued that strategic autonomy is not a defense cost, but a key investment in the EU’s long-term economic resilience. He stated that we can no longer afford to take export risks, import dependence, and hope that the market alone will guarantee supply security.
Catastrophic situation
He criticized the limited scope of the EU’s ambition to secure access to raw materials and build new mines, while others will dominate in refining, processing, production, and technology. The European Union must therefore take comprehensive action to break free from imports. Meanwhile, the current situation is catastrophic. China accounts for 60% of global critical raw material production and 90% of refining capacity.
According to the European Parliament’s research department, the EU is collectively dependent on Beijing for about 90% of its raw materials and 98% of its rare earth magnets. In recent years, most recently in 2025, Beijing has repeatedly suspended or restricted exports of rare earth elements to the EU.
Given that the real source of China’s dominance is not solely mining, but also the capacity to refine and process materials on an industrial scale, an EU ISS document suggests that Europe should also invest heavily in domestic refining infrastructure, even if environmental standards and labor costs make it less competitive in the short term.
Concretes and swift action
Concluding his speech, the Commission representative called for the identification of specific key projects for which administrative delays must be overcome, public and private funds mobilized, and it must be shown that Europe is able to present others with a better, more sustainable, and more interesting offer than China is doing. One of the most controversial ideas of the EIT RawMaterials summit became the call for Europe to act faster than democratic systems would prefer.
The study frequently mentions permitting delays, fragmented regulations, and environmental approval processes as things incompatible with „geopolitical urgency.” To accelerate the extraction of domestic critical raw materials, the Commission recently proposed opening up adopted EU water regulations as part of what it called a „risk mitigation strategy” aimed at diversifying supplies. At the same time, the summit emphasized that the extraction, refining, and recycling of critical raw materials are closely linked to water use and water quality.
Fot. Unsplash
