European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen highlighted the importance of the circular economy for Europe’s strategic autonomy. In her address at the Berlin Global Dialogue 2025 on 25 October, she announced that the Commission is working on a new initiative, the RESourceEU plan, aimed at securing access to alternative sources of critical raw materials in the short, medium and long term for the EU's industry.
"It starts with the circular economy," Ms von der Leyen said. "Not for environmental reasons. But to exploit the critical raw materials already contained in products sold in Europe. Some companies can recycle up to 95 per cent of the critical raw materials in batteries. This means extracting precious raw materials, reducing waste, and promoting sustainable resource management."
As in her "State of the European Union" speech in September, Ms von der Leyen underlined the need to reduce the EU's dependencies on third countries. "The global economy is completely different than it was even a few years ago. Europe cannot do things the same way anymore. We learned this lesson painfully with energy; we will not repeat it with critical materials", the Commission President said....
