Speakers:
Bart Groothuis, Member of the European Parliament, Renew Europe Group; Paweł Świeboda, Senior Visiting Fellow, European Policy Centre; Georg Riekeles, Associate Director & Head of Europe's Political Economy Programme, European Policy Centre

In the inaugural episode of Policy Crossroads, Paweł Świeboda and Georg Riekeles, EPC experts, engage in dialogue with MEP Bart Groothuis from Renew Europe Group and probe into the evolving landscape of economic security. The exchange revolves around the following questions:

a) Will strategic global competition and the escalating US-China rivalry worsen the economic security landscape, and how do such trends prompt a profound policy shift in Europe?

b) Is economic security adequately prioritised by member states and the European Parliament, and what areas must Europe prioritise to bolster its role?

c) What measures are anticipated in the 2024-2029 EU cycle to fortify economic security, especially in technology and supply chains? How does partnership factor into this strategy?

The world has become more hostile and volatile, where geopolitics plays an integral part in trade and economics. Global strategic competition is shaking the very assumptions of the open market thinking of the European Union, which now needs to take a more assertive geoeconomic turn. As the external environment is transitioning from a rules-based order to a deal-based order, this conversation indicates pathways for the EU to promote its global competitiveness, protect its economy and strategic industrial sectors, and build meaningful partnerships abroad.

Key quote from Bart Groothuis: “We need the instruments to get more power when negotiating with China. This is called strategic indispensability”.