The European Union is becoming increasingly dependent on the Arctic for its climate transition and defence goals and the bloc should mobilise efforts to use its own critical raw materials in the far North to cut dependencies on China, according to a European Commission official.
Speaking at an event on the EU’s Arctic strategy on Tuesday, the bloc’s special envoy for Arctic affairs, Jyrki Katainen, argued that the war in Ukraine, China’s growing influence and changing US policy had fundamentally altered the region's geopolitical and economic importance.
