Tools to power up the European Union | Letter

"The European Political Community which met in Copenhagen last week was cobbled together to present a united front with Ukraine, but has quickly established itself as a fixture of the diplomatic calendar, and one of the sole forums that can still convene post-Brexit Britain, Erdogan's Turkey and the non-EU eastern flank. It's already proving to be the flexible and inclusive vehicle for common action that European security demands."

"Meanwhile, original thinking and a willingness to break out of institutional silos may yet help the EU itself overcome the delay and fudge Menon identifies. On this front, an EU economic security council is an idea whose time has come a simple-to-implement framework, in the model of its American equivalent, which would deliver the geostrategic assessment of key decisions that the EU desperately needs."

The EU's peacetime foundations leave it ill-suited to address current continental security challenges. Europe still possesses tools to respond: the European Political Community convenes diverse actors, including post‑Brexit Britain, Turkey and the non‑EU eastern flank, and provides a flexible, inclusive vehicle for united action with Ukraine. Original thinking and breaking institutional silos can accelerate EU responses. Establishing an EU economic security council, modeled on the US counterpart, would provide geostrategic assessment of key decisions. While the EU will probably never exercise hard power, embedding economic statecraft across Brussels policymaking would better leverage existing power for peacetime prosperity and continental security.

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