At the Green Transition Forum 6.0 in Bulgaria, held on 3 June 2026, Euromines President Jan Mostrom took part in a high-level panel discussion focused on Europe’s industrial resilience and the future of its green transition amid increasing geopolitical and supply chain pressures. He underlined that Europe’s competitiveness, strategic autonomy, and green transition all depend on one essential foundation: secure access to raw materials.
While EU initiatives such as the Critical Raw Materials Act and ResourceEU were welcomed as important steps forward, discussions in Sofia centered firmly on implementation. Turning ambition into delivery, speakers stressed, now requires predictable permitting processes, competitive investment conditions, coherent industrial policies, and stronger market signals for responsibly produced, low-carbon raw materials.
In the context of rising global competition for critical minerals and accelerating industrial decarbonisation, modern European mining was highlighted as a highly regulated, technology-driven and sustainability-oriented sector that plays a key role in securing resilient industrial value chains. Participants warned that without the ability to develop and operate critical raw materials projects within Europe, the EU’s strategic autonomy objectives would remain difficult to achieve.
Industry and stakeholder voices
The discussion brought together representatives from industry, academia, policy, and civil society, including Euromines members DPM Metals and the Bulgarian Chamber of Mining and Geology:
- Ivaylo Koprev, Rector, University of Mining and Geology “St. Ivan Rilski”
- Vedrana Lemor, Head of Corporate Sustainability, Aurubis AG
- Ivailo Georgiev, Sustainability and Public Affairs Manager, Aurubis Bulgaria
- Dominic Hamers, Executive Director, GEOTECHMIN GROUP OOD
- Irena Tsakova, General Manager, DPM Krumovgrad EAD
- Milana Petkovic, Communications Officer, DPM Avala, Serbia,
- Armenak Grigoryan, General Manager, DPM Metals Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Rumen Radev, Chairperson, Bulgarian Industrial Capital Association
- Nikola Rangelov, Chair of the Board, Bulgarian Association of the Metallurgical Industry (BAMI)
- Christian Dr. Kühne, Managing Director, Think Tank for Industrial Resource Strategies
- Ivan Mitev, CEO, Bulgarian Chamber of Mining and Geology
- Georgios Karakatsanis, Founder and Director, EVOTROPIA Economic Architectures
- Boyan Rashev, Founder, MindYourFuture.org
- Sergei Stanishev, Member of the Strategic Foresight Committee, Green Transition Forum (Moderator)
Key takeaway
The session reaffirmed that Europe’s green and industrial transitions depend on a secure and domestically anchored raw materials supply chain. Participants stressed that this requires coordinated action across permitting, investment conditions, policy coherence, and demand creation for sustainable materials. Without the ability to develop and operate critical raw materials projects within Europe, strategic autonomy objectives risk being undermined.
