Vlaskamp, Martijn2025-03-072025-03-072025Vlaskamp MC. Looking for resource sovereignty in a fragmenting global order: the EU’s response to critical raw materials challenges. In: Costa O, Soler i Lecha E, Vlaskamp MC, editors. EU foreign policy in a fragmenting international order. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan; c2025. p. 147-75. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-64060-5_6978-3-031-64059-9978-3-031-64062-9http://hdl.handle.net/10230/69852This chapter examines the European Union's (EU) evolving concerns and strategies regarding critical raw materials (CRMs), which are essential for the renewable energy and digital transitions. The COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitical tensions with Russia and China have made the EU aware of the fragility of some of their supply chains. Initially seen mainly as an economic issue, the secure supply of CRMs is now perceived as a geopolitical concern crucial for strategic autonomy. This shift led to the 2024 Critical Raw Materials Act, which includes domestic and external measures such as bilateral agreements with resource exporters and strategic partnerships with politically like-minded countries. These policies were supported by almost all Member States, EU institutions, and groups in the European Parliament. Overall, this case illustrates a move of the EU from unequivocally advocating global free trade to a more protective approach to secure the raw materials vital for Europe's political and economic ambitions.application/pdfeng© The Author(s) 2025. This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this chapter are included in the chapter’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the chapter’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.Matèries primeres -- Unió Europea, Països de laUnió Europea, Països de la -- Política econòmicaUnió Europea, Països de la -- Política comercialinfo:eu-repo/semantics/bookParthttp://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-64060-5_6info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess