Italy pushes Porto Marghera as EU pilot hub for rare-earth storage

On Friday, Italy's state investment bank Cdp lodged a joint proposal with the Netherlands in Brussels to establish a two-site European storage system for rare earths, with one location in Rotterdam and the other at Porto Marghera near Venice. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced the plan in the Senate, describing it as a pilot that could secure supplies of lithium, cobalt, graphite and other critical materials essential for the green and digital transitions.

The Ministry of Enterprises and Made in Italy, led by Adolfo Urso, said the EU could approve the project by year-end, providing ten million euros for the hub's design and linking it to ports in Trieste and Ravenna and the Quadrante Europa logistics platform. Local politicians, including Governor Alberto Stefani and Mayor Simone Venturini, welcomed the move as a boost for the disused industrial area, while industry leaders from Alkeemia Pure Graph and 9-Tech received strategic project status for related recycling initiatives. However, unions such as CGIL (Daniele Giordano), CISL (Michele Zanocco) and UIL voiced concerns over transparency and the need for a full production chain, and the regional Pd councilor Monica Sambo called for environmental safeguards.