“That was the case last year, but that’s still the case. So we only see this intensifying,” Brekelmans said.
Brekelmans also expressed concern over Europe’s dependence on China for critical raw materials. China is “using their economic position for geopolitical purposes and also to pressure us,” the minister said.
“Both on the European Union level, but also on the national level, we need to make bigger steps in order to reduce those dependencies,” Brekelmans said.
Swedish Deputy Prime Minister Ebba Busch raised the point at the EU Competitiveness Council earlier this month, warning: “The dependency on Russian gas will seem like a warm, sunny day compared to the dependencies on the raw material sector.”
