A New Geoeconomic Power? The EU in the Face of Populism and a Retreat from International Liberalism

In an era of geopoliticisation European integration seems to have entered a new phase that has been conceptualised as a geoeconomic turn. While the European Union (EU) with its Single Market and an elaborate framework of external policies undoubtedly disposes of the capacity to adopt and implement a wide range of geoeconomic instruments, it is far from certain whether the EU will be able to become a geoeconomic power. Facing a global retreat from international liberalism, the need for unified action at a supranational level is greater than ever, yet internal fragmentation and political divides complicate and threaten the proper functioning of internal procedural routines. Even where the EU envisages strategies such as ‘Europe First’ that accommodate demands of populist parties represented at EU and national level, political and electoral competition may undermine a consensus on substance in order to uphold a Eurosceptic profile and cultivate international links between populist leaders. The conference contribution revisits the conceptualisation and operationalisation of the geoeconomic turn, questions what the rise of the EU as a geoeconomic power would entail, and analyses the political process leading to the adoption, and potentially the implementation of geoeconomic measures based on the analysis of policy documents and media coverage.