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European Union–Republic of Korea Cooperation on Economic Security: Opportunities, Limits and Challenges

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IAI PAPERS 24 | 19, Instituto Affari Internazionali, June 17, 2024
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This piece is a revised version of a paper presented at the conference on “New Convergences in EU-ROK Economic Security Relations”, organised in Rome on 30 January 2024 by the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI).

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In a context of heated great power rivalry and geopolitical tensions, security concerns now tend to prevail over considerations of economic efficiency. This change in context is particularly challenging for the European Union, first because of the potential differences in security perceptions across its member states, and secondly because its economic model has been based on an open, intervention-free economy. As a result, the EU’s economic security strategy places a heavier emphasis on protecting its economy than on promoting its competitiveness through industrial policy-like measures. But the strategy also relies on partnering with other countries, with South Korea as an ideal partner due to the existing mechanisms already in place between the two countries to address economic security-related issues.

 

 

 

 

 

Table of content 

Introduction
1. The rise of economic security concerns
1.1 The discontent with globalisation
1.2 Defining economic security
2. The EU and economic security
2.1 The need for a paradigm shift in the EU
2.2 The EU’s economic security strategy: Derisking as a priority
2.3 The instruments of EU’s economic security strategy
3. Scope for cooperation on economic security
3.1 General considerations on the challenges of bilateral cooperation
3.2 The way forward
References

 

>>> Read the article on the Instituto Affari Internazionali's website.

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978-88-9368-336-4

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Françoise NICOLAS

Intitulé du poste

Senior Advisor, Center for Asian Studies, Ifri

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Center for Asian Studies
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Asia is a nerve center for multiple global economic, political and security challenges. The Center for Asian Studies provides documented expertise and a platform for discussion on Asian issues to accompany decision makers and explain and contextualize developments in the region for the sake of a larger public dialogue.

The Center's research is organized along two major axes: relations between Asia's major powers and the rest of the world; and internal economic and social dynamics of Asian countries. The Center's research focuses primarily on China, Japan, India, Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific, but also covers Southeast Asia, the Korean peninsula and the Pacific Islands. 

The Centre for Asian Studies maintains close institutional links with counterpart research institutes in Europe and Asia, and its researchers regularly carry out fieldwork in the region.

The Center organizes closed-door roundtables, expert-level seminars and a number of public events, including an Annual Conference, that welcome experts from Asia, Europe and the United States. The work of Center’s researchers, as well as that of their partners, is regularly published in the Center’s electronic journal Asie.Visions.

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Date de publication
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Date de publication
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Pakistan has historically maintained the closest ties to the Taliban movement and initially viewed its return to power in Afghanistan in the summer of 2021 with considerable optimism. The bilateral relationship has since deteriorated, and the two neighbors have been caught in a cycle of escalation since last fall. In October 2025, Pakistan launched its first airstrikes on Kabul. For three weeks in February–March 2026, Afghanistan intensified ground assaults on the Pakistani side of the border as well as drone attacks on Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Pakistan, for its part, has intensified airstrikes on Afghan border areas, as well as on Kabul and Kandahar. Given the dynamics at play at the bilateral and regional levels, the prospects for a sustained return to stability appear limited.

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The partnership between the European Union (EU) and India has long been limited to economic exchanges. Its political dimension has gradually developed, culminating in its elevation to the status of a “strategic partnership” in 2004. However, the failure of negotiations for a free-trade agreement in 2013 slowed this momentum. Since the early 2020s, in an uncertain geopolitical context, bilateral rapprochement has gained new momentum.

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Japan’s Takaichi Landslide: A New Face of Power

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Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has turned her exceptional popularity into a historic political victory. The snap elections of February 8 delivered an overwhelming majority for the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), driven by strong support from young voters, drawn to her iconoclastic and dynamic image, and from conservative voters reassured by her vision of national assertiveness. This popularity lays the foundation for an ambitious strategy on both the domestic and international fronts.

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How can this study be cited?

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Françoise NICOLAS, « European Union–Republic of Korea Cooperation on Economic Security: Opportunities, Limits and Challenges », External Publications, Ifri, 17 June 2024.
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