EU agreed with Ukraine on mining critical resources back in 2021 - European Commission spokesman

BRUSSELS. Feb 25 (Interfax) - Cooperation with Ukraine in mineral development announced by European Commission Executive Vice President Stephane Sejourne is based on the memorandum of mutual understanding signed in 2021, this is not a competition with the United States, the European Commission said.

"There is no proposal. Since 2021, the EU has a partnership on critical raw materials with Ukraine, formalized through our memorandum of understanding. So, this dates back four years ago. [...] This cooperation is not only about securing supply chains for the EU, but also about fostering local value creation and capacity building in partner countries ensuring mutual benefits," European Commission spokesman Thomas Regnier said at a press briefing in Brussels on Tuesday.

"This is really here about cooperation with Ukraine and not about any sort of competition with the U.S.," he said.

He said Sejourne reaffirmed the EU's intention to work under the memorandum of mutual understanding and to enhance the partnership advantageous for all when he was visiting Kiev on Monday for a joint meeting of the European Commission and the Ukrainian government.

Answering a follow-up question, Regnier said that the EU aimed to achieve synergy in mineral development and to make it advantageous to partners on the ground and the European Union. "And this is what this memorandum of understanding is about," Regnier said.

European Commission representatives confirmed at the press briefing that they knew about a rare earths deal discussed by Kiev and Washington from the press but could not say whether the United States had formally notified the European Union about that.

They told the press that the United States remained a partner and ally of the European Union and that the EU had repeatedly mentioned its ties with the U.S..

Politico said earlier on Tuesday that Sejourne had offered Kiev a mutually advantageous agreement on mining rare earths.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Monday he was hoping that Washington and Kiev would make a rare earths deal shortly.