Lithium batteries project

Question for written answer  E-000861/2021
to the Commission
Rule 138
Sandra Pereira (The Left)

The Commission has approved a joint European project (an Important Project of Common European Interest) to ramp up research and development with regard to batteries, which is set to last until 2028. It will cover the entire value chain - from the extraction of raw materials, the design and production of cells and battery packs to recycling and disposal within the circular economy - and bring together 12 Member States (Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Austria, Sweden, Finland, Poland, Slovakia, Croatia and Greece) and a total of 42 members of the European Battery Alliance.

Portugal, which is said to have the largest lithium reserves in the EU, missed out on the project, thereby losing access to a public aid package potentially in the region of EUR 2.9 billion euros.

Could the Commission answer the following questions:

• 1.If the Portuguese Government applied to this programme and was unsuccessful, what were the reasons for this?
• 2.What criteria did the Commission use when choosing the selected projects?
• 3.Are there any other programmes to which Portugal could apply as an alternative?