The inagural Brussels Economic Security Forum brought together over 250 policymakers, business leaders and experts from six continents and from across Europe on 5 and 6 June under the motto “Turning the tide. Collaborative interdependence. Open economic security.” 

This ongoing EPC programme stems from a clear realisation that economic security deserves its own dedicated platform, one that allows for deep, structured discussion, as do those centred on more traditional security issues around the military and defence.  

Faithful to the Forum’s mission to design together practical responses to urgent challenges posed by a near breakdown in the rule-based international order, the focus is on a range of emerging solutions to promote the collaborative interdependence that can bring open economic security, not just for Europe but for all. 

Emerging from two days of frank and diverse exchanges are five key takeaways that will define the debate going forward: 

• The time for conceptual debate on economic security is over. The EU must act now to push back on threats and build resilience – in the coming months, not years. 

• This includes defining how Europe will deal with the harsh reality that, for the foreseeable future, it will be dependent on others for critical inputs, infrastructure and technology that will be weaponised against it.  

• On trade, Europe has capabilities but lacks credibility in terms of its willingness to use the instruments at its disposal. In addition to standing up to US and Chinese coercion, the EU is expected by likeminded partners across the world to lead in the defence of rules-based trade.

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• The EU can do much to build economic resilience for itself, but to protect critical industries and develop its own value chains, policymakers must be ready to put aside earlier policy and market assumptions, deal with trade-offs and work much more closely in tandem with businesses. 

• In sum, an ‘Economic Security Matrix’ must be applied across all relevant policy areas, ensuring that the objectives of Preparing, Promoting, Protecting and Partnering form a cohesive policy. The EU lacks capacities across all four, with significantly more resources being required in terms of institutional preparedness and Europe’s “running faster” agenda.  

At the Forum, trade negotiators for the EU, UK, Japan, Canada and Australia detailed their efforts to reinvent global collaboration; policy leaders handling challenges around new technology and decarbonisation brought essential context; respected voices from the Asia-Pacific, South America and Africa challenged some of the doom and gloom prevailing across the North Atlantic; global business offered clear visions of how open economies deliver more for communities than negative-sum power games – and reminded governments to keep their feet on the ground to focus on what is practical.  

To mark the event, the EPC, in collaboration with a range of partner think tanks and leading experts from around the world, is bringing together key publications into a single compendium that provides an overview of the current state of economic security.

See the image gallery here.
Read more of what people said about the BESF here.