Bulgaria has a strategic advantage in sustainable metal extraction using modern methods that must be leveraged as Europe recalibrates its industrial and energy security strategy, Bulgaria’s Deputy Minister of Energy Lyubomira Gancheva said at a conference on the role of metals in EU independence and industrial leadership.
Speaking at an event organised by the Bulgarian Association of the Metallurgical Industry in Sofia on Friday, Gancheva said the topic was timely given current geopolitical uncertainty and intensifying global competition for strategic resources. She argued that Europe had for too long operated under the assumption that clean technologies alone would deliver the necessary economic growth, but that emerging realities had exposed the need for a more balanced approach.
“Sustainable development cannot be achieved without the mining industry achieving sustainable development,” she said, framing the extractive sector not as an obstacle to the green transition but as a prerequisite for it. The deputy minister acknowledged that the low-carbon economy remains a strategic goal but warned that achieving it poses serious challenges to the entire economic system, requiring a careful balance between environmental ambition and industrial necessity.
The conference brought together stakeholders from Bulgaria’s metallurgical sector to discuss the country’s potential contribution to the EU’s broader push for strategic resource independence — a conversation taking on growing urgency as Brussels seeks to reduce dependence on Chinese processing dominance across critical metals supply chains.
