Andreas Kroll’s appearance on Lanz: Why Europe is still in the locker room in the race for raw materials
It is a brief moment that captures the entire evening: even before the discussion begins, Markus Lanz picks up on the central image from “The Cocaine of Industry”—the book Andreas Kroll co-authored with Andreas Pietsch.
A metaphor that sticks: those invisible commodities that are so indispensable they have long since become the new currency of global power.
The fact that this phrasing is picked up in a major talk show says a lot about the state of Europe. The topic has arrived. So has the urgency.
A continent waking up from its prosperity slumber
Manfred Weber, Chairman of the European People’s Party (EPP) in the EU Parliament, makes it unusually clear at the start of the programme: for 35 years, Europe has lived off favourable geopolitical conditions. But Russian gas, American protection and Chinese sales markets—the three pillars of Europe’s comfort—have become fragile.
Weber speaks calmly, but his words mark a turning point: Europe is no longer at the centre of the world order, but in the midst of its redefinition.
China’s shadow in the supply chain
What sounds abstract geopolitically suddenly takes shape through Andreas Kroll. As Managing Director of Noble Elements, he operates every day in the raw materials arena in which Europe can hardly act with sovereignty anymore.
Kroll describes China’s approach as having become “more abrasive.” To export rare earths at all, authorities now demand detailed information on end use—information European companies have good reason not to disclose.
What follows is an instructive bottleneck: delays, uncertainty, production stoppages.
There is no need to dramatise it—it is enough to understand it: commodities have become geopolitical tools.
The germanium lens—an object that reflects the world order
One of the most striking moments of the evening requires no words. Kroll places a germanium lens on the table. Unspectacular, transparent, almost harmless—and yet a symbol.
Germanium is essential for:
- Night-vision devices
- Thermal imaging technology
- Satellite optics
- Military sensor systems
A lens that shows how dependent Europe really is: not on tonnes, but on grams.
In that moment, what experts have been saying for years becomes tangible: the race for technological sovereignty will not be decided in factory halls, but in the metals that make them possible in the first place.
A warehouse like a seismograph
A short clip shows Noble Elements’ high-security warehouse. There, packed tightly together, metals worth around $50 million are stored—compressed into an area that feels more like an art repository than an industrial warehouse.
The scene raises an uncomfortable question: how did Europe allow these commodities to become something it can hardly procure, refine, or hold independently anymore?
A look at yttrium provides the answer:
In China: around $7 per kilogram
In Europe: over $200
A price gap that has less to do with economics and more to do with geopolitics.
Paths out of dependency—at least in theory. Manfred Weber does not stop at the diagnosis this evening. He calls for:
- Minimum off-take volumes so investors have the confidence to launch projects.
- Price guarantees to secure the build-up phase.
- A joint European procurement policy instead of national go-it-alone approaches.
And the willingness to mine commodities in Europe again—under high standards, but with a clear goal: sovereignty.
Kroll adds what Europe has neglected for years: building its own physical reserves—through projects such as Noble Elements, Seltene Erden AG, or digital supply-chain platforms like Finomet, which make transparency possible in the first place.
A race that began long ago
Towards the end of the evening, Kroll sums up the situation with an image that could hardly be more precise:
China has already run 100 metres.
The USA is at 20 metres. Europe is still sitting in the locker room—at least the shoes are tied.
This comparison is neither exaggeration nor resignation. It is a description of the situation—and a wake-up call.
Europe has a choice: watch as the race continues. Or finally step out of the locker room.