A new raw materials agency moved closer to reality on 20 October 2026, when the European Parliament adopted amendments that strengthen the Critical Raw Materials Act by 470 votes to 83, with 108 abstentions. The raw materials agency would give the Union a dedicated body to manage supply risks in rare earths, lithium, cobalt and other inputs that industry cannot do without.
Mohammed Chahim, the Dutch S&D lawmaker who leads the file, wants a self-standing agency with its own funding and democratic accountability. According to S&P Global, which is my only source for the vote itself, the raw materials agency would combine market intelligence, resilience planning, stockpiling coordination, joint purchasing, stakeholder engagement and financial instruments. The Critical Raw Materials Act entered into force in December 2023, and the Commission proposed amendments in December 2025 under its RESourceEU plan.
Money follows the structure of the raw materials agency. Parliament backs a €2 billion Critical Raw Materials Fund within the 2028-2034 budget, with price-stabilisation tools such as contracts for difference. That ask will collide with the wider budget fight, where governments already argue over the total and over new EU own resources.
The Commission’s own thinking points the same way, though under another name. E&E News reported in October 2025 on a proposed Critical Raw Materials Centre to monitor, jointly purchase and stockpile minerals, and Mining Journal describes a centre modelled on Japan’s JOGMEC that would act as a portfolio manager. Neither source says the centre and Parliament’s agency are the same body, so the institutional design remains an open question.
Parliament’s text also widens the toolbox. The existing joint purchasing mechanism would expand to support coordinated stockpiling by member states and companies, and the Commission could restrict exports of permanent-magnet scrap. Large firms in strategic sectors would have to map their supply chains, and calls for strategic projects would open at least twice a year.
The security logic is plain. Europe seeks to diversify away from particularly China for rare earths, lithium and cobalt, yet none of the sources reviewed gives a dependence percentage, so I will not quote one. What the sources do show is a gap between ambition and delivery, since stockpiling and joint buying have so far relied on voluntary coordination.
Parliament says it is ready to negotiate with member states, but no Council position or timetable has been published. Governments may balk at creating a new raw materials agency with its own budget when they already juggle competitiveness and defence spending. A lighter centre inside existing structures could attract more support in the Council.
For industry, the practical message is to prepare for supply-chain mapping duties and for a more active public buyer. The raw materials agency will stand or fall on whether the Council accepts its funding, so watch the budget talks and the first Council text on the Critical Raw Materials Act in 2026 and 2027.
