The European Commission spokesman Thomas Rainier denied that the European Union had offered Ukraine a minerals agreement alternative to the American one. He said that such cooperation has been going on for several years.
This was stated by European Commission spokesman Thomas Rainier, Interfax-Ukraine and European Truth report.
"There is no proposal. Since 2021, the EU has had an official partnership with Ukraine on critical raw materials, which is formalized by a Memorandum of Understanding. So, this dates back four years," said Rainier.
This is how the official commented on the words of European Commissioner for Industrial Strategy Stefan Séjournais, who allegedly offered Ukrainian officials an agreement on "critical materials" and called it a "win-win" for both sides.
"During yesterdayʼs college visit to Kyiv, [Commissioner Séjourné] did indeed meet with his Ukrainian colleagues. And he confirmed our commitment to implementing this Memorandum of Understanding and accelerating work to strengthen our mutually beneficial partnership," the European Commission spokesperson clarified.
According to the spokesperson, cooperation in the field of critical raw materials is aimed not only at ensuring the security of supply chains for the EU, but also at developing capacity in partner countries, which creates mutual benefit.
"Now, as you can see, this is actually about cooperation with Ukraine, not some kind of competition with the United States," added Rainier.
The statements come as the United States is demanding that Ukraine sign a mineral deal. The US President Donald Trump wants access to Ukraine’s mineral resources as “compensation” for military aid provided to Ukraine by the Joe Biden administration. Trump has insisted that the US deserves “payback” for helping defend Ukraine from Russian invasion.
At the same time, the draft agreement from the US does not mention any military commitments from the States, writes Axios. The document focuses on the creation of a Reconstruction Investment Fund. Ukraine is to contribute $500 billion to the fund, with Ukraineʼs contribution to be twice as large as the US contribution, but the agreement does not provide that this amount should be paid to the States.
What kind of agreement on Ukrainian minerals?
The US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent brought a pilot draft of a minerals agreement to Ukraine on February 12. Washington had hoped that Kyiv would sign it immediately. President Zelensky said that he had banned the agreement from being signed because it would not protect Ukraine’s interests — it had no connection to investments, profits, or security guarantees.
Previously, Trump had stated that Ukraine had "essentially agreed" to transfer half a trillion dollars worth of rare earth metals to Washington as payment for American military aid.
Ukraine is ready to sign an agreement on rare earth metals, but Kyiv needs security guarantees, and they were not in the agreement. Zelensky added: "The document was clear in only one thing — we must give 50% of everything that is listed there."
After refusing to sign the document, Washington made the agreement even tougher, writes the NYT. Now the US demands 100% of revenues from natural resources, including minerals, gas and oil, as well as revenues from ports and other infrastructure.
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