Brussels plans stockpiles of vital minerals as war risks mount

Brussels has announced plans to strengthen emergency stockpiles of vital minerals and cable repair kits amid growing concerns over the EU’s vulnerability to attacks.

A draft strategy from the European Commission highlights the bloc’s increasingly complex risk environment, citing “rising geopolitical tensions, including conflict, the mounting impacts of climate change, environmental degradation, and hybrid and cyber threats,” Caliber.Az reports per foreign media.

The Commission urged member states to coordinate reserves of essential goods such as food, medicines, and even nuclear fuel.

It also aims to accelerate the creation of EU-wide stockpiles of items like cable repair modules to “ensure prompt recovery from energy or optical cable disruptions” and critical commodities including rare earths and permanent magnets, which are key for energy and defence technologies.

Recent incidents suggesting sabotage of underwater communication cables and gas pipelines have heightened fears about the fragility of critical infrastructure. This initiative is part of a broader effort to boost security and resilience across the 27-member bloc.

General Carsten Breuer, Germany’s chief of defence, recently warned that Russia could potentially attack an EU state within the next four years.

The draft document attributes the heightened risk to “increased activity from hacktivists, cybercriminals and state-sponsored groups.” Additionally, the EU faces greater climate challenges, warming at twice the global average. This week, wildfires on Crete led to the evacuation of 5,000 residents.

Former Finnish president Sauli Niinistö, in a report commissioned by the EU, described security as a “public good” and advocated a mindset of preparedness. On stockpiling, he said Brussels should “define targets to ensure minimum levels of preparedness in different crisis scenarios, including in the event of an armed aggression or the large-scale disruption of global supply chains.”

The EU has already recommended households keep emergency supplies to last 72 hours and maintains fleets and medical assets for disaster response across 22 countries. However, the Commission noted a “limited common understanding of which essential goods are needed for crisis preparedness” and plans to set up a “stockpiling network” to improve coordination.

The strategy includes regularly updating lists of essential items by region and crisis type, encouraging private sector involvement through incentives like tax credits, and enhancing cooperation with NATO on shared warehousing and infrastructure management.

Investment in stockpiling will also be factored into the EU’s upcoming multiannual budget proposals, expected later this month. The draft is due for publication next week but may be revised before its final release.

By Aghakazim Guliyev