EU economic security | The EU adopts its first strategy to shield its economic security against rivals like China

2023-06-20 18:08:34

In a context of growing geopolitical tensions and of profound technological changesthe European Comission has adopted this Tuesday its first economic security strategy born with the aim of minimizing the risks derived from the European dependency of raw materials, including energy, technology leakage or economic coercion by third countries. The plan is not directed at any specific country, but in the spotlight it is clear, as the vice president has admitted Margrethe Vestager, there are two candidates: Russia y China.

“The world has become more contested and geopolitical and there is a limited set of key technologies that can be used differently and aggressively. That is why the issue of economic security has become a priority for us and for many of our partners”, explained the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyenabout a strategy that seeks promote European competitiveness y protect yourself from external risks. And although Brussels has already taken measures in this area in recent years, this means being stricter in the use of existing instruments – such as the export controls— and acquire new tools.

This is what Brussels will do with a new initiative that it will present before the end of the year to control European investments in critical sectors abroad such as the artificial intelligence. “We have to ensure that the capital, knowledge, experience and research of European companies are not misused by the countries concerned to military applications. We will propose an initiative before the end of the year”, confirmed von der Leyen. In short, that “they should not be used to promote technological advances in countries that could use them to undermine peace and security”, added his vice president, Valdis Domvrovkis.

three-pronged approach

The strategy defines how to mitigate the identified risks through a three-pronged approach. Firstly, by promoting the competitiveness of the EU through the reinforcement of the internal market, the economy and its industrial and technological base. Secondly, by protecting the economic security of the EU with existing and new instruments, in particular the control of European investments abroad. Finally, Brussels advocates seeking new partners to strengthen economic security and strengthen partnerships.

“What we want is to balance our traditional opening with instruments that ensure our prosperity (…) The time has come to build (a strategic and prospective approach) and the core of this approach is the risk reduction”, added the head of European diplomacy, Joseph Borrell, who insists that it is necessary for the EU to protect itself from external threats. “We already have quite a few tools but we need new ones” and “we need new tools to deal more effectively with these emerging threats”, he added.