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15:12 GMT 22.02.2024 (Updated: 15:35 GMT 22.02.2024)
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The European Union is «totally dependent» on China for lithium, since the bloc imports 97% of its needs on the material from the country, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday.
«We have observed that China, over the last 20 to 30 years, has strategically bought mine after mine globally. They take the raw material, they have the processing procedures in China and then they have the monopoly for this raw material. Take lithium: 97% of the lithium we use in the European Union is from China. So we are totally dependent on this one on China,» von der Leyen said during her opening speech at the Clean Tech Industry Dialogue in Brussels.
In September 2023, media reported that the EU was at risk of becoming as reliant on China for lithium-ion batteries by 2030 as it was on Russia for fossil fuels before the latter launched its special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022.
