European Ombudsman Denounces EC's Secrecy Regarding "Strategic" Lithium Projects

Coimbra native Teresa Anjinho, sworn in as European Ombudsman in February 2025, is responsible for investigating maladministration within the institutions, bodies, offices and agencies of the European Union.

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The European Ombudsman, Teresa Anjinho, concluded that the European Commission committed maladministration by refusing to give public access to environmental documents related to lithium and other mineral extraction and processing projects classified as strategic projects under the Critical Raw Materials Act of 2024.

The finding follows a complaint filed by an international environmental law firm ClientEarth, which had been working with the Unidos em Defesa de Covas do Barroso Association. The local citizens' group has been fighting eight years against the open-pit lithium mining project of Savannah Resources which would destroy Portugal's U.N. Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System in Vila Real District.

The complainant sought access to four Commission decisions regarding the status of Strategic Projects and to parts of the applications of 12 projects which are located within the European Union and whose applications had been successful, according to the Recommendation on how the European Commission handled a request for public access to documents related to projects that have been recognised as 'Strategic Projects' under the Critical Raw Materials Act (July 15), European Ombudsman.

In response to the request for documents, the Commission considered that the documents' disclosure would undermine the commercial interests of the companies concerned relying, with respect to the majority of the documents at issue, on a general presumption of non-disclosure. Among other arguments, the complainant contended that there is an overriding public interest in disclosure, given that the documents are likely to contain important environmental information.

The Ombudsman recommended that the European Commission reassess its position and grant "broad public access" to the documents requested by the environmental organization ClientEarth.

The European Commission has until October 15 to present a detailed opinion of the ombudsman's recommendations.

Effect of Ombudsman's Recommendation

"Although the Ombudsman's recommendation does not foresee automatic sanctions if Brussels fails to meet the October 15 deadline, the finding of mismanagement significantly increases the political and legal pressure on the European Commission," according to Público (August 4).

"The outcome of this case could set a precedent for future applications for strategic project status and determine whether the European race for lithium and other critical raw materials will continue to be marked by secrecy or will become subject to effective

public scrutiny."

"The energy transition must be based on law, science and justice -- not on political shortcuts which turn rural regions into sacrifice zones," said lawyer Ilze Tralmaka, of ClientEarth, according to Público (February 5).

Recommendation

The European Ombudsman summarized the decision:

"The Ombudsman considered that, due to their very nature, it was unreasonable for the Commission to apply a general presumption of non-disclosure to documents related to the designation of critical raw materials projects as Strategic Projects under the CRMA (Critical Materials Act of 2024).

"In addition, based on the inspection of the documents by her inquiry team, the Ombudsman found that they do not contain sensitive information throughout, (partly) because large parts of them had already been lawfully made public at the time when the Commission issued its final position on the complainant's access request.

"The Ombudsman also took the view that the documents contain extensive environmental information, including 'information related to emissions into the environment' for which an overriding public interest in disclosure is deemed to exist.

"The Ombudsman therefore concluded that the Commission's refusal to give public access constituted maladministration. She recommended that the Commission re-consider its position with a view to granting wide access to the documents at issue."

Reaction: "Corroboration"

The Unidos em Defesa de Covas do Barroso association viewed the ombudsman's decision as a validation of its criticisms of the process, reported Público (August 4).

Activist Carla Gomes said that the case "only corroborates what we have been denouncing since 2018", which is "a clear lack of transparency and democratic participation in the process surrounding this mine". She said that it was "completely unacceptable to be considered a community to be sacrificed, let alone in a process shrouded in secrecy".

Background

The European Union's share of the global production of most critical raw materials is lower than 7 percent, according to The Future of European Competitiveness (2024), by Mario Draghi, the former head of the European Central Bank (2011 - 2019).

In May 2024, the Critical Raw Materials Act entered into force, designed to ensure access to minerals and materials, which are crucial for digital, defense and alternative technologies. A project could be deemed "strategic", obtaining a priority status which requires national authorities to carry out any administrative or judicial procedures related to the permit-granting as swiftly as possible.

At that time, the Commission published the first call for applications for strategic projects.

In March 2025, the European Commission adopted a list of 47 projects of which four were in Portugal -- three for lithium (Savannah Resources in Boticas, Vila Real District, Lift One processing in Estarreja, Aveiro District, and Lusorecursos Portugal Lithium in Montalegre, Vila Real District) and one for copper -- all of which would benefit from "simplified licensing provisions", according to the European Commission (March 25, 2025).

In June 2025, the Commission designated 13 projects located in countries outside the European Union as strategic projects, which included Rio Tinto's controversial lithium project in Serbia listed as "jadar". according to the European Ombudsman.

In Serbia, Rio Tinto, one of the world's largest mining companies, has project to extract lithium from the mineral jadarite, which was discovered in 2004, in the fertile agricultural Jadar Valley. Its mining and processing project has faced strong opposition from citizens and environmental activists for years. Thousands blocked roads across the country moving the government to revoke the mining company's licenses in January 2022, reported BalkanInsight (February 23, 2023). However, the Constitutional Court overturned the decision and reinstated the licenses in 2024, reported Reuters (June 4, 2025). On November 13, 2025, Bloomberg's headline read, "Miner Rio Tinto Mothballs $3 billion Serbian lithium project". Rio Tinto has been in Serbia since 2001.

In November 2024, six months after the call for strategic projects, the complainant, "an environmental civil society organization", requested from the Commission public access to (i) a list of all projects which had applied for the strategic project status; (ii) the Commission's guidelines for the assessment of those applications, and (iii) documents that the mining companies concerned had submitted to demonstrate their compliance with the requirements that environmental impacts would be monitored, prevented and minimized, and that they would engage meaningfully with communities.

In reply, the Commission provided the complainant with a copy of its guidelines. As for the remaining documents, the Commission refused to give public access, relying on the need to protect its (then) ongoing decision-making process and the need to protect the commercial interests of the project promoters.

In February 2025, the complainant asked the Commission to review its position (by making a 'confirmatory application'), arguing -- amongst other things -- that there is an overriding public interest in disclosure. Specifically, the complainant considered that the documents contain environmental information, including "information related to emissions into the environment, and that critical raw material projects have a significant

impact on the health and well-being of local communities who had not been consulted.

When it did not receive a confirmatory reply from the Commission within the prescribed time limit (which is considered an implicit negative reply), the complainant turned to the Ombudsman.

Lawsuit Against Strategic Classification of Barroso Mine

In February, the Unidos em Defesa de Covas do Barroso association and ClientEarth sued the European Commission for granting strategic project status to the Savannah lithium mine, according to Jornal de Negócios (February 5).

The lawsuit argued that the Commission "ignored clear gaps in the assessment of environmental impacts, including impacts on protected species and the safety of the infrastructure planned for the storage of tailings".

About the Ombudsman

From 2022 to 2025, Teresa Anjinho served as a member of the Supervisory Committee of the European Anti-Fraud Office, according to European Ombudsman.

Previously, she held the positions of Deputy Ombudsperson of Portugal (2017-2022); Secretary of State for Justice in the Portuguese government (2015), and Member of Parliament in Portugal (2011 - 2015).

Anjinho is a lawyer, an independent human rights expert and an academic specializing in public international law, gender and equality. She has lectured at the NOVA School of Law and at Ius Gentium Conimbrigae Centro de Humanos Direitos (Center of Human Rights) of the University of Coimbra.

She also has published several scientific papers.

The Author

I live in the foothills of the Serra da Estrela which, until February 2022, also had been considered for lithium exploration. I oppose lithium mining in Portugal.