The past years have witnessed an acceleration of Sino-US geoeconomic competition characterized by the broad use of new economic instruments to achieve strategic and security goals. For Europe, this rise of geoeconomics poses a difficult challenge. The EU was designed on the premise that economic and security policy should remain separate, and it has found itself ill-equipped for their increasing convergence. In this new context, the EU has started to develop policies to enhance its own economic and technological sovereignty in order to better manage its strategic interdependencies. In relation to these efforts at developing Europe’s ‘open strategic autonomy’, EU Member States also need to assess their own vulnerabilities to geoeconomics and analyze their own economic and technological interdependencies. This webinar discusses the risks and opportunities for Europe and Finland from the current geoeconomic competition, and relevant policy options for strengthening European economic and technological competitiveness and sovereignty.
The webinar marks the launch of the report Europe Facing Geoeconomics: Assessing the EU’s and Finland’s Risks and Options in the Technological Rivalry. The project was part of the Finnish Government’s analysis, assessment and research activities (VN-TEAS) for 2021.
PROGRAMME
Welcoming words:
Mika Aaltola, Director, FIIA
Pia Sarivaara, Chair of Steering Group, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland
Keynote address:
Sabine Weyand, Director General, DG Trade, European Commission
Nina Vaskunlahti, Under-Secretary of State, Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland
Report presentation:
Mikael Wigell, Research Director, FIIA
Expert panel:
Sari Arho Havrén, Senior Advisor, Business Finland
Janne Känkänen, CEO, The National Emergency Supply Agency (NESA)
Petri Vuorio, Director, Confederation of Finnish Industries (EK)
Chair:
Mikael Wigell, Research Director, FIIA