My focus is also on delegitimizing bullshit deal proposals with something fair :)

This is basically what I was thinking. “Access to minerals” doesn’t necessarily “access without market cost”. It could be a deal consisting of:

1. Military aid goes to EU defence industry supplies
2. In exchange, EU gets first dibs at market rate contracts (with some tax-exempt on on the EU side for imports) for metals/mineral extraction

Everyone is frugal and likes (or is okay with) nitpicky, complicated things like PoE skill trees, taxes, and investing.