Europe – Measured response: How to design a European instrument against economic coercion (Jonathan Hackenbroich, Pawel Zerka, ECFR)

• Europe is at ever greater risk of economic coercion from other powers.
• To protect itself, the EU could adopt a new anti-coercion instrument (ACI) to allow it to impose economic countermeasures.
• The ACI needs to enable countermeasures that are both effective and credible; if it does not, this could carry more risks than benefits.
• These countermeasures could include: trade and investment restrictions; export controls and divestment in certain sectors; and restrictions on access to EU public procurement markets.
• The EU should also include a flexibility mechanism for countermeasures against those forms of economic coercion the ACI cannot cover explicitly.
• The ACI should be a de-politicisation tool. It must be used only as last resort and should include an effective de-escalation mechanism to trigger dialogue and negotiations.

Measured response: How to design a European instrument against economic coercion – European Council on Foreign Relations (ecfr.eu)