Critical raw materials: the new European Commission call is a major opportunity for Italian SMEs
Critical raw materials have returned to the centre of the European agenda, and for good reason. Europe remains heavily dependent on external suppliers for strategic resources that are essential to the energy, digital and industrial transitions. Aluminium is one of them.
A recent EU funding call under the Critical Raw Materials Act is a strong signal of political direction, recognising the strategic role of aluminium and the need to strengthen Europe’s industrial base. In particular, it underlines the importance of SMEs, which are the backbone of European manufacturing, and the urgency of investment across extraction, refining, recycling and recovery to reduce supply-chain vulnerabilities and build genuine strategic autonomy.
Italy, thanks to the strength of its manufacturing sector and the potential of recycling, can aspire to become a Mediterranean hub for critical raw materials, provided that cooperation between institutions, research and industry is effectively reinforced. This is an industrial challenge, but also a long-term political choice: without secure and sustainable access to raw materials, there can be no competitiveness and no green transition.
Read the full article by FACE Secretary General Mario Conserva in A&L Magazine here.
