BRUSSELS. The European Commission has proposed a new tool to counter the use of economic coercion by third countries. It is the response to the fact that the EU and member states have become the target of deliberate economic pressure in recent years. “If the economic intimidation does not stop immediately – writes the EU Executive in a note – the new tool will allow the EU to react quickly and effectively, providing a tailor-made and proportionate response for each situation such as imposing duties and limit imports from the country in question, or impose restrictions on services or investments or measures to limit the country’s access to the EU internal market ”.
With this new tool, the EU will be able to respond to cases of economic coercion in a structured and uniform way. A dedicated legislative framework guarantees predictability and transparency; underlines the EU’s adherence to a rules-based approach, including at the international level. The EU will engage directly with the country concerned to stop economic intimidation.
The aim is therefore to dissuade countries from restricting – or threatening to restrict – trade or investment to bring about a change of policy in the EU in areas such as climate change, taxation or food security. The anti-coercion tool is designed to reduce escalation and induce the discontinuation of specific coercive measures through dialogue as a first step. Any countermeasures adopted by the EU would only be applied as a last resort when there is no other way to deal with economic intimidation, which can take many forms. These range from countries that use explicit coercion and trade defense tools against the EU, to selective border controls or food security on goods from a specific EU country, to the boycott of goods of a certain origin. The aim is to preserve the legitimate right of the EU and member states to make political choices or decisions and at the same time prevent serious interference in the sovereignty of the EU or its member states.