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The EU executive is aiming to improve the EU market’s defences against threats from third countries with a new economic doctrine that combines risk anticipation with a reinforced strategy.
The new “software” comes as the EU faces increasingly nationalist trade policies from major players like China and the US.
Just weeks ago, a Chinese push to restrict exports of rare earths to the rest of the world put key European sectors at risk, from cars and tech to defence. Beijing also tested Europe’s economic resilience by blocking shipments of crucial automotive chips to Dutch-based company Nexperia, squeezing a strategic link in the EU’s supply chain.
“Europe remains a champion of open trade and global investment, but openness without security becomes vulnerability,” said European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maroš Šefčovič. “To stay resilient in a shifting geopolitical and geoeconomic landscape, we must use our tools more strategically and assertively, while developing new ones to reinforce our economic security.”
The doctrine outlines several areas where the EU aims to sharpen its risk assessment to curb strategic dependencies, from critical raw materials to tech components and semiconductors – areas which are increasingly being weaponised by China.
The EU wants to include economic security considerations in its trade defence investigations. The bloc has several tools at its disposal, including foreign direct investment, subsidies screenings and anti-dumping mechanisms.
Among the most important measures are the anti-coercion instruments adopted in 2023, designed to retaliate to threats from a foreign power.
Industrial espionage crackdown
Brussels also wants to crack down on predatory practices and industrial espionage, tightening scrutiny of strategic companies and infrastructure both physical and digital.
“We must strengthen our capacity to gather and share economic intelligence, because true security is only possible when Europe acts as one – with Member States and industry moving in sync,” Šefčovič said.
However, the Commission has not yet offered any concrete proposal to address situations where companies of strategic emerging areas such as quantum technology cannot access funding in the EU.
“There are concerns that we would be letting ownership of certain technology holders come out of European hands, not for good reasons,” a senior EU official said.
For such situations, the document unveiled Wednesday said the EU will prioritise EU funding or fundings coming from like-minded country and suppliers for critical quantum components and services, and “limit reliance on high-risk quantum/cloud providers in sensitive sectors.
In markets like EV batteries, dominated by China, the Commission plans to drive tech and know-how sharing.
The same senior EU official said that Brussels also wants the private sector closely involved, since this is “where the risk actually takes place”.
The bloc already has legislation, born from the Covid-19 pandemic and Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, to keep essential goods, services and people moving within the EU market during emergencies. A new trusted advisory group drawn from industry will be set up to bolster this effort.
The Commission also wants the EU to forge partnerships with countries facing similar threats in a world splintered into new trade blocs, and to strengthen trade risk assessments. Japan will be involved, along with EU membership candidate countries – a sphere where the EU is already contending with Chinese influence.