The Project was launched at the EPC conference “European competitiveness and economic security: Towards a new strategic agenda”, on 10 January 2024, with a keynote address from Thierry Breton, Commissioner for Internal Market.

The Project’s Framing Paper “Europe’s make-or-break moment: Putting economic security at the heart of the EU’s 2024-2029 strategic agenda” authored by Georg Riekeles and Paweł Świeboda proposes 18 recommendations for the EU’s forthcoming strategic agenda

The roundtable discussed the linkages between the economic security and energy security agendas, the scope for further EU-level action, how to strengthen supply resilience and diversification through a full value-chain perspective and improve risk preparedness and cross-border coordination in case of energy supply shocks.

Considering the European Commission’s identified risks to the resilience of supply chains, including energy security; to physical and cyber security of critical infrastructure; to technology security and leakage, and the risks of weaponisation of economic dependencies or economic coercion, this workshop and the subsequent Policy Paper will try to identify the policy areas and tools where the Single Market approach needs to be reoriented to address the economic security concerns.

Food security has moved up on the EU’s political agenda as greater self-sufficiency in food is seen as a crucial building block for a more resilient continent in general. But systemic resilience to shocks to European food systems is still fairly under-developed. Food security is of strategic concern and a critical component of economic security, given the indispensability of food for our lives and the connection of food supply chains with other industrial eco-systems such as transportation and energy. This report introduces Food Alert’s innovative stress testing methods and includes ideas for policymakers in areas such as crisis response, agriculture and food production resilience and sustainability, and trade and finance supply chains security.

Amidst an increasingly complex economic situation, Europe’s decrease in competitiveness is one of the most dangerous threats to the bloc’s long-term prosperity. With high energy prices, difficult access to finance, and skills and labour shortages, the EU’s regulatory burden is cited by businesses across the Union as a major obstacle, limiting investment, innovation, and productivity. This Discussion Paper looks at the unfulfilled potential of the EU’s Single Market and Better Regulation agenda and offers concrete policy recommendations to address the situation.

Organised with the Permanent Representation of France to the EU, this conference discussed the main opportunities and challenges going forward in the EU industrial policy and the strategic balance between protecting and promoting domestic industries. This event included two key-note addresses by Jordi Hereu, Minister for Industry and Tourism of Spain, and Roland Lescure, Minister for Industry and Energy of France.

This roundtable discussed whether the EU Chips Act will prove sufficient to build semiconductor resilience as well as technological and industrial leadership in Europe. With the launch of the Chips Joint Undertaking end of last year, the roundtable revealed an opportune moment to engage Europe’s leading stakeholders in a forward-looking discussion on what more is required to make Europe’s chips turnaround a success. 

Organised with and hosted by the European Investment Bank, this roundtable explored the EIB's prerequisites of investing in strategic technologies and the clean tech sector, two of the most vital areas of global competition, where the EU needs to strengthen its leadership and avoid building new dependencies. As such, the roundtable was part of the EIB Institute’s emerging emphasis on foresight on investment needs.