EU makes major economic security shift

THE headlines at the European Council meeting of EU prime ministers and presidents on Thursday (Jun 29) and Friday are likely to be dominated by Ukraine. Yet underneath the radar, Europe’s leaders will also discuss a major, consequential shift in economic security policy towards a US-style approach that integrates security and defence.

The proposed EU measures are by no means an isolated development, and come as other nations too are seeking to “de-couple” from Russia, and “de-risk” from China.

So, across much of the Western world, policymakers are debating the issue of how best to update their economic security regimes in light of geopolitical, technological and wider changes. The central policy challenge is how best to combine toughened national-security safeguards with as open an approach as possible to international economic affairs.