There are core tensions underlying the EU’s support for LKAB’s Per Geiger rare earth mine in northern Sweden. The EU wants to fast-track projects important for environmental and industrial policy. Strict environmental and indigenous rights laws can slow or impede these efforts, particularly due to permitting requirements, biodiversity protection, and Sámi rights obligations.
LKAB’s Per Geiger deposit near Kiruna has been granted ‘strategic project’ status under the EU’s Critical Materials Act (CRMA), making it eligible for EU-backed financing, guarantees and other risk mitigation measures. The designation is intended to accelerate domestic mining of materials critical to electric vehicles, wind turbines, and defense.
But this flagship project is currently being slowed down by the EU’s strict environmental and rights-based laws, which remain an impenetrable barrier even to projects that Brussels considers essential to Europe’s technological progress.
EU funding, political pressure and strategic position
The Pell Geiger project is at the heart of the EU’s push for raw material autonomy. Under the CRMA, the EU has committed to having at least 10% of its strategic raw materials mined locally and 40% processed domestically by 2030.
To achieve these goals, the EU provides support through financial tools such as Invest EU, the Innovation Fund and European Investment Bank loans. Nearly €3 billion of strategic funding has been announced for mining, processing and recycling projects to break dependence on Chinese supply chains, with northern Sweden identified as a priority region.
Per Geiger’s designation as a strategic project serves as a political and financial signal. This will improve access to EU-supported funds, reduce investment risks and allow national authorities to prioritize projects. In EU terms, it is treated as being in the Union’s public interest.
This combination of financial and political support is intended to accelerate mining at breakneck speed. However, legal requirements may stop everything.
Environmental law: no exceptions, no shortcuts
Despite the importance of the project, LKAB still requires a full environmental permit under Swedish environmental law, one of the strictest versions of EU environmental law.
This process requires detailed and time-bound impact assessments on water, biodiversity, pollution, noise and climate. These assessments must be reviewed by the Swedish Land and Environment Court. At each stage there are delays and challenges that can last for years.
At EU level, the Environmental Impact Assessment Directive and the Habitats and Birds Directive are fully applicable. These regulations protect Natura 2000 sites and endangered species and cannot be ignored solely for industrial or strategic reasons.
While EU funding actively promotes projects like Pell Geiger, EU environmental law gives courts, authorities and civil society the means to halt them immediately, and in some cases indefinitely.
Indigenous rights: important legal considerations
Legal tensions continue over land use disputes with indigenous Sami people. The Per Geyer deposit overlaps with traditional reindeer herding areas, which will impose obligations under the Swedish Constitution, the European Convention on Human Rights and EU law to protect minority rights and ensure meaningful participation.
These legal demands conflict with CRMA’s urgent request for permission to accelerate. Legal experts have warned that standards such as free and informed consent will be nearly impossible to uphold under the relentless pressure of fast-tracking projects funded by the EU.
Kiruna is currently at the center of what researchers call the EU’s “green deal paradox”. Climate change industrial ambitions require immediate action but conflict with strong legal protections for land, biodiversity and indigenous cultures.
Flagship project of the Critical Materials Act
Per Geijer is part of the larger EU-backed LKAB value chain, which also includes rare earth extraction from existing iron ore production in Malmberget and processing at the industrial site in Luleå. All three projects are designated as strategic projects under the CRMA and benefit from harmonized permits and improved access to EU-related funding.
The limits are clear. Strategic status does not confer permits, weaken environmental standards, or override rights protections. The European Commission can revoke the designation if sustainability criteria are not met or if the project fails to deliver as promised.
As a result, while EU funds and the strategic project label are creating an irresistible momentum for extraction, EU environmental and rights laws have erected uncompromising legal barriers, setting the stage for years of difficult delays at a time when speed is critical.
Structural conflicts within EU policy
EU institutions say domestic rare earth mining is essential. Demand is expected to increase more than fivefold by 2030, and Europe remains overwhelmingly dependent on imports from China.
At the same time, the EU legal order is built on the principles of precautionary measures, environmental protection and rights-based governance. These principles give opponents of new mines strong legal leverage, even when projects are financially and politically supported by Brussels.
The outcome of the Pell Geiger project will show whether the EU can combine financial-driven promotion of strategic autonomy with the strong environmental and rights standards that underpin the Green Deal.
Kiruna is now exposing a deeper and more pressing problem. The EU is rushing to accelerate mining projects that its own laws have slowed.
