Critical Raw Materials: Geopolitical chess or tug-of-war for development?

Critical raw materials are vital for the EU's green transition and offer African countries a path to green industrialisation. However, both face policy dilemmas: Africa must efficiently use resources within, and share them between, countries, while the EU seeks to de-risk from China and maintain industrial leadership. In this podcast, Poorva Karkare and Géraud Neema discuss how these different moving parts fit together.

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Fascinating conversation. Thank you. Many issues. For example, pooling our resources together: the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) started in the early 1950s between 6 countries just coming out of World War II. The Schuman Declaration and Plan was extraordinary. It turned former enemies into interdependent partners! 2/ Installing mineral processing, refining plants is a must for African countries. Given the cost of those plants, wouldn't it make sense for them to share the costs and manage those plants as regional public goods? Of course, that would be politically very complicated because, as Géraud Neema said, our leaders do not see long term. Additionally, the Westphalian state is key to their political survival, which puts clear limits to the levels of integration between them.