CIRAN hosted a panel discussion in the European Parliament, Brussels

14 October 2025 | Brussels, Belgium

Minerals for Strategic Autonomy: Key Insights from Our European Parliament Session

On 13 October, CIRAN brought together policymakers, regional leaders, researchers, and industry experts at the European Parliament to discuss a critical challenge: How can Europe balance the urgent need for critical raw materials with environmental protection and local community rights?

Hosted by MEP Hildegard Bentele, the session highlighted a fundamental reality: social acceptance, not technical feasibility, has become the decisive factor for mining project success in Europe. The session started with a round of presentations from CIRAN Work Package leaders on the key project findings. These can be found and freely downloaded from the Results page. It was followed by a panel discussion and a Q&A session with external experts and participants.

🔑 Key Takeaways

The Challenge: Over 85% of EU critical raw material deposits lie within or near environmentally protected areas, creating apparent conflicts between resource security and nature conservation. Moreover, research shows that most European citizens do not trust national governments or Brussels politics—making the reconciliation of critical mineral extraction with EU strategic autonomy and environmental protection both urgent and complex.

The Solution: Novel social contracts such as Community Development Agreements (CDAs) offer a promising pathway—binding agreements between local authorities, mining companies, and communities that require no changes to national legal frameworks whilst adapting to local contexts.

The Consensus: Trust-building through transparent governance, inclusive engagement, and genuine stakeholder empowerment is essential. As our panellists emphasised:

• Well-informed citizens can be contributing partners, not obstacles
• Shared visions for the future matter more than legacy burdens

The Reality Check: Faster, more effective decision-making is urgently needed, currently hindered by governance frameworks, stakeholder engagement challenges, and social acceptability concerns.

The path forward requires transforming opposition into support through innovative social contracts that honour both strategic necessities and democratic values.

The CIRAN Session in the European Parliament was moderated by Vitor Correia, Secretary General of INTRAW and CIRAN coordinator, and featured the following panellists:

• MEP Hildegard Bentele – European People’s Party (EPP)
• Antonella Valmorbida – Association for Local Democracy (ALDA)
• Jean-Pierre Kucheida – ACOM France
• Päivi Ekdahl – RC Lapland

CIRAN extends its gratitude to the European Parliament, all guest speakers, and participants for generating a fruitful and engaging discussion environment and for an insightful event.