ROME (Reuters) – Germany, France and Italy will work together to procure raw materials for their respective economies, ministers for the three countries said in a joint statement ahead of a meeting in Berlin on Monday.
“We can’t guarantee the ecological and digital transformation if we are unable to help our companies get the raw materials they strongly need,” French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said in the statement, which was released by Italy.
The COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have exposed how dependent Germany, France, Italy and the EU are on individual countries, especially China, for the extraction and processing of raw materials, the statement added.
“Better diversification of our raw material supply is economic security. Closer raw material cooperation is economic security,” said German Economy Minister Robert Habeck, who is hosting the talks.
Le Maire cited joint purchasing and common stockpiling as areas where the countries could work together more closely.
The statement did not say which industries in particular they wanted to help.
Europe has already taken a range of steps to reduce its reliance on Russian gas following the invasion of Ukraine, boosting supplies from other parts of the world and cutting down on consumption.
“Italy, Germany and France account for a significant portion of the EU economy, sharing value chains in many sectors,” Italian Industry Minister Adolfo Urso said.
The finance, economy and industry ministers of the three countries also said they would have more trilateral meetings to strengthen cooperation on strategic issues at the European level.
(Writing by Gavin Jonesn and Keith Weir, editing by Crispian Balmer and Alvise Armellini)
