The European Commission denies information about the agreement on critical minerals proposed to Ukraine by the European Union, an alternative to the US: this cooperation is already four years old.

This was stated in Brussels on Tuesday by representative of the European Commission, Thomas Regnier, commenting at the request of journalists on information disseminated by the media, citing the European Commissioner for Industrial Strategy, Stéphane Sejourné, that he allegedly offered Ukrainian officials a mutually beneficial agreement on critical minerals.

“There is no proposal. Since 2021, the EU has partnership on critical raw materials with Ukraine, formalized through our memorandum of understanding. So, this dates back four years ago. As with all the EU critical raw materials partnerships that we have, this corporation is not only about securing supply chains for the EU, but also about fostering local value creation and capacity building in partner countries ensuring mutual benefits. Now, as you see, this is really here about cooperation with Ukraine and not about any sort of competition with the US,” he explained.

According to Regnier, during the board's visit to Kyiv yesterday, Executive Vice President (EVP) Sejourne met with his Ukrainian counterparts and he “reaffirmed our commitment to implement this memorandum of understanding and accelerating the work to strengthen our mutual beneficial partnership.”

“It was said several times yesterday, but let me repeat it again: the EU stands with Ukraine and will continue to do so as Ukraine is fighting for the entire security of our continent,” the EC representative detailed, stressing: “The partnership that we have, and gain it dates back to 2021, so these discussions didn’t emerge now in light of potential recent events. So, the partnership that we have with our Ukrainian friends, dates back four years ago. As with all the critical raw materials and memorandum of understanding we have, with our partners, it is about, of course, creating synergies between the supply chains on one side and the other. And then, of course, creating, benefits also for our partners on the ground. And this is what this memorandum of understanding is about.”