Irina Patrahau and Benedetta Girardi
Introduction
Global tensions have renewed the interest of the European Union (EU) and member states like the Netherlands to invest in modernizing their militaries and revitalizing domestic industrial capabilities. The rise of China and the shift of the United States (US) strategic interest from Europe to the Indo-Pacific, Russia’s military threat, and conflicts in the Middle East point to the need for European militaries to strengthen operational readiness and invest in the development of capabilities. The revitalization of conflict around Europe’s borders – the Russo-Ukrainian war and the conflict in Gaza – has shown the EU and its member states that they must boost military operational readiness to be able to deter and/or withstand direct military confrontation.
At the same time, geopolitical tensions are putting pressure on trade relations, with implications for the supply security of strategic goods. Global supply chains have been strained ever since the COVID-19 pandemic and Russian invasion of Ukraine. These events have been wake-up calls for the EU that import dependencies in vital sectors – energy, healthcare, hightech products – are undesirable and should be reduced. The escalating US-China tensions are bringing even more urgency for the EU to strengthen self-suciency. While the competition for economic, military, and technological superiority between the US and China has been unfolding for more than a decade, the rivalry has come to the forefront of global trade and national industrial policy.
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