Power economics is now the decisive variable determining where Europe’s future materials refining and processing capacity will exist. Refining metals, manufacturing semi-fabricated products, processing battery materials, and managing advanced metallurgical chains are fundamentally energy operations. Electricity is not simply an input cost; it is the strategic determinant of competitiveness, investment confidence and long-term industrial anchoring....
South-East Europe is moving into a period where emissions, carbon pricing, and green electricity certification are no longer policy experiments. They have become structural realities shaping who can continue exporting to Europe, who can secure financing, who can scale operations, and who will quietly disappear from competitive relevance. For decades, industries across the Western Balkans,...
Green energy certificates and CBAM now sit at the heart of Europe’s industrial trade reality. The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism was created not as a tariff instrument, but as a structural equaliser: Europe is decarbonising its industry under strict emissions pricing through the EU ETS, and CBAM ensures that imported products face a comparable carbon...
Serbia is entering a decisive economic moment in which metallurgy and materials processing are no longer simply industrial activities, but the structural foundation of national competitiveness, technological relevance and strategic sovereignty inside Europe’s evolving industrial space. For decades, Serbia’s metallurgy was viewed primarily in terms of legacy steel, aluminium downstream manufacturing, copper production and industrial...
Europe is entering a new industrial era in which power is no longer defined primarily by who owns natural resources, but by who controls processing. Sovereignty today lies not in mines, but in metallurgical know-how, refining capability, chemical conversion capacity, engineering execution, and industrial resilience. Belgium anchors copper and zinc. The Netherlands stabilizes aluminium and...
Southeast Europe is facing a rare and decisive moment. For the first time in decades, the European Union needs the region not symbolically, not politically, and not as an afterthought — but in a structural, industrial sense. Not as a source of cheap labour, not as a passive consumer market, not as an outsourcing experiment...
The concept of Southeast Europe (SEE) as Europe’s industrial “second layer” cannot remain a theoretical construct or a policy slogan. To be meaningful, it must evolve into a clear execution architecture — something governments can design policy around, investors can finance with confidence, and industrial companies can integrate into their operational models. For SEE, the...
Europe’s industrial transformation is no longer defined by the opening of new mines or geological ambition. The decisive struggle takes place further down the value chain — in processing, refining and chemical conversion. Whoever controls these stages controls value, security of supply and long-term competitiveness. Europe’s future depends on ensuring that strategically critical raw materials...
Mining is not just an industry—it is a political, economic, and social force. Unlike most sectors, it physically transforms landscapes, shapes local economies, and impacts communities over decades. For democratic societies, this creates a unique responsibility: mining decisions must be both technically sound and democratically legitimate. Transparent, science-based communication is not a marketing exercise; it...
Industrial Europe is entering a period defined not by incremental improvements, but by structural transformation. Energy systems are decarbonising under the combined forces of industrial policy, climate strategy and geopolitical competition. Production systems are electrifying, digitising and reorganising around efficiency, supply-chain security and sustainability. Capital is being redirected through green taxonomies, EU industrial policy instruments,...
