Europe must stockpile critical raw materials, Germany's Merz says

BERLIN, Nov 5 (Reuters) - Europe must build up stocks of critical raw materials to reduce its dependence on countries that dominate their extraction and processing, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Thursday.

"Without critical raw materials, there would be no batteries, no high-performance electric motors, no modern semiconductors and none of the many other technologies on which our economies will depend in the future," Merz told an economic conference in Berlin.

"(The state) must help to diversify sources of supply, strengthen recycling and the circular economy (...) and – this is a very specific proposal I'm putting forward – build up stockpiles in Brussels, at the European level," Merz said.

The European Union, along with other major Western economies, relies heavily on China for critical minerals and components such as batteries and rare earths used in the defence, aerospace, automotive and renewable energy sectors.

The European Commission announced last month that it has chosen 46 strategic raw material projects to benefit from faster permitting and help in bidding for public and private funding, as the bloc races to diversify supply chains.

(Reporting by Thomas SeythalEditing by Ludwig Burger)