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The EU’s Critical Raw Materials Act (CRMA) was designed to strengthen Europe’s access to the materials essential for its green, digital and defence ambitions. With targets for domestic extraction, processing and recycling, faster permitting and the designation of Strategic Projects, the legislation represents a significant attempt to reduce Europe’s strategic dependencies and build more resilient supply chains.

Nickel, classified by the EU as both a critical and strategic raw material, provides an important test of whether these ambitions are translating into improved conditions on the ground. European nickel producers face high energy and operating costs, lengthy investment cycles and increasingly intense global competition. The Nickel Institute has argued that the CRMA’s objectives must therefore be accompanied by a coherent and predictable regulatory framework capable of maintaining production and encouraging long-term investment in Europe.

As implementation advances, how do nickel producers assess the CRMA so far? Have Strategic Projects, streamlined permitting and greater political attention to raw-material security materially improved Europe's investment environment, and where do producers believe important gaps remain?

Member States will also be crucial to delivering the Act. Are national governments moving quickly enough to facilitate projects and investment, and how can differences in implementation across Europe be addressed?

The Commission is meanwhile developing additional support for critical raw-material value chains, including new financing mechanisms and measures intended to strengthen European demand and offtake.

This Rapporteur Hybrid Conference will discuss:

- Is the CRMA delivering tangible benefits for European nickel producers, and what is still missing?
- Are EU and national regulatory frameworks sufficiently coherent to encourage new investment?
- How effectively are Member States implementing faster permitting and supporting strategic projects?
- Can European nickel production remain internationally competitive while meeting the EU’s sustainability objectives?
- What additional financing, demand-side or industrial-policy measures should the Commission consider to turn the CRMA’s ambitions into commercially viable projects?

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