{"id":33092,"title":"The European Economic Security Strategy: Zeitenwende in the EU\u2019s Trade and Investment Policy?","link":"https:\/\/bst-europe.eu\/de\/investment-budget\/the-european-economic-security-strategy-zeitenwende-in-the-eus-trade-and-investment-policy\/","date":"22. Juni 2023","date_unix":1687433797,"date_modified_unix":1748338014,"date_iso":"2023-06-22T11:36:37+00:00","content":"

The EU has been a classic free trader by its very nature as an economic bloc. However, Trump\u2019s trade war against its closest ally, China\u2019s increasing willingness to coerce other countries economically, and especially Russia\u2019s war of aggression against Ukraine has shaken the EU\u2019s confidence. Therefore, the quest for an EU-wide economic security approach has recently been high on the agenda. <\/em><\/p>\n

In response to geopolitical developments over the past few years, the EU has overhauled its defensive toolbox at lightning speed, e.g. by introducing an instrument against economic coercion and putting forward new industrial policies like the CHIPS Act to become less dependent on other countries for critical inputs and more resilient to the weaponisation of economic relations.<\/p>\n

The European Economic Security Strategy<\/a> proposed on June 20th<\/sup> by the European Commission appears to be a logical step to take it from there, especially after the strong statement<\/a> on economic security made by the G7 leaders in Hiroshima in May.<\/p>\n

However, on the same day the Strategy was proposed, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz met with Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang in Berlin for the 7th<\/sup> Sino-German intergovernmental consultations. The meeting had a strong business-as-usual tone and left many wondering how seriously Germany, as a leading economic power in the EU, is taking the Zeitenwende<\/em><\/a> in regard to critical dependencies on China and other countries. The meeting also raised questions on how strong the support for the newly-proposed Economic Security Strategy is among Member States.<\/p>\n

What is in the strategy?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The Strategy is an attempt to create a common understanding of economic security and to build a more cohesive EU approach to the topic. This is rather new and unfamiliar for the EU and its Member States, some of which, e.g. Germany, have had the propensity to treat economics and security in separate realms, though overlaps were not completely avoidable.<\/p>\n

The aim, therefore, is to \u201cprovide a framework for a robust assessment and management of risks to economic security at EU, national and business level while preserving and increasing our economic dynamism.\u201d<\/a> The Strategy broadly identifies the following four major risks to European economic security:<\/p>\n

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  1. Resilience of supply chains<\/li>\n
  2. Physical and cyber security of critical infrastructure<\/li>\n
  3. Technology security and technology leakage<\/li>\n
  4. Weaponisation of economic dependencies or economic coercion<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Measures to assess and reduce these risks are centred around three<\/a> pillars, which for the first time, cluster already existing or implemented measures related to economic security in the EU. There is also a need to enhance some of these measures as well as prospective new instruments including:<\/p>\n