Europe must set trends in battery production

The EPP Group wants Europe to set trends and lead the world in producing the safest and most sustainable batteries. "Putin's war against Ukraine has shown we must address the Green Deal with more ambition than ever before. This also applies to batteries. There will be no successful green transition without sustainable batteries", stressed Jessica Polfjärd MEP, the EPP Group's lead on the topic, ahead of the vote on Thursday in the European Parliament on new European rules for batteries.

For the EPP Group, it is crucial to make sure European production of batteries gets enough help to grow. That could happen, for instance, through securing supply chains and rewarding investment.

"To achieve climate neutrality, we also need access to minerals such as lithium", said Polfjärd, explaining that the EU produces less than 1 percent of the world's lithium batteries, which are crucial for the production of electric cars. "This makes Europe highly dependent on the import from certain countries in South America and also from Russia. In particular, dependency on Russia is a threat to Europe’s security, as the current war in Ukraine demonstrates", she added.

"We need our own critical raw materials' supply chains and investments in infrastructure, not only for our safety, but also for our prosperity. The future of batteries is also about the future of European competitiveness, economic development and the creation of jobs", she concluded.