African governments are entering the geopolitical competition over critical raw materials with a growing sense of strategic confidence. While the AU-EU Summit in Luanda in November 2025 reaffirmed political commitments on both sides, European initiatives continue to lose ground. It is true that the Critical Raw Materials Act has expanded the EU’s diplomatic footprint; however, its limited project pipeline and fragmented financing under the Global Gateway have left the bloc unable to match the speed and scale of competing offers notably from China, the Gulf States and the US. African partners expect cooperation on industrial projects and deeper integration into value chains.
With stronger internal coordination and increased financing under the next Multiannual Financial Framework, the EU can strengthen both its ability to deliver and its credibility. African governments are increasingly repositioning themselves amid the growing global demand for minerals and the intensifying geopolitical competition. As current or future producers of copper, cobalt, graphite and other minerals, they are adopting a more assertive approach, more closely aligning their raw material policies with domestic industrial objectives and recalibrating their engagement with international partners accordingly. At the continental level, the African Green Minerals Strategy (AGMS), which the African Union (AU) adopted in 2025, seeks to promote local value creation and regional supply-chain integration. Governments from Johannesburg to Dar es Salaam are courting investment not only in mining but also in mineral processing and enabling infrastructure. This repositioning is shaped by a broader geoeconomic turn. Global competition over resilient supply chains has evolved into a contest over industrial sovereignty, at the centre of which stand critical raw materials (CRMs). For its part, the European Union (EU) is still searching for a coherent response to this development. Decoupling from nonEuropean supply is neither realistic nor desirable, as Europe’s demand cannot be met domestically. Thus, the bloc’s increased resilience in mineral supply chains depends on diversification based on reliable external partnerships. At the AU-EU Summit in Luanda in November 2025, the two sides reaffirmed their commitment to multilateralism and CRM cooperation. With CRMs now increasingly addressed through industrial and geopolitical lenses, the EU must use the 2024 Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) to adjust its external instruments – including the EU budget and the engagement of the European Investment Bank (EIB) – in order to engage effectively with external actors on this issue. The twofold goal should be to promote its own diversification goals and respond to Africa’s increasingly assertive industrial strategies.
About the Author:
Meike Schulze was a Research Associate at the SWP until December 2025. She currently works as a freelance political scientist and consultant