The EU in a changing world
Ugo Astuto
As we celebrate Europe Day on May 9, this is a good moment to pause and look at how the European Union is evolving in a changing world.
We are living through a difficult period in international relations, when the rules-based international system is being severely challenged. As we face these rapidly changing realities, one thing remains rock solid: the European Union will stand firm in its commitment to defend and uphold international law and the UN Charter.
The EU is strengthening its resilience. We have moved in this direction in the last few years. We have become more adept at using our strengths: our market, our trading reach, our economic security levers. We are investing in our democratic resilience at home to counter foreign information manipulation. And we have started a generational project, working towards European strategic autonomy.
The goal is to make ourselves more resilient and sovereign, from defense to energy, from critical raw materials to strategic technologies. We work to deepen, derisk and diversify our partnerships around the world. In today's world, it is important to not rely on a single supplier for vital assets. And for this, we need to strengthen connections with reliable, trusted partners, like the Republic of Korea, a key partner in the Indo-Pacific. From our free trade agreement, green and digital partnerships, to security partnership — our engagement is already making a real difference. Countries across all continents are looking for stability and trusted partners. And this is our hallmark, our European offer.
To address growing security challenges globally, there are three areas where the EU is undergoing a major change. The first area is security and defense. Europe has peace at its core. It is at the heart of our treaty and the center of our history. It remains an enduring mission. To seek peace in today's world, Europe must be able to deter and to counter. We need to invest in the means to protect our territory, economy, democracy and way of life.
And we have done more on defense in the last year than in decades before. The message is clear: Peace and security in Europe depends on us, and we are taking full responsibility for it.
But standing on our own feet does not mean standing alone. We want to work with trusted partners around the world, within NATO, with our U.S. allies and beyond. This is the core idea behind the security and defense partnerships that the EU has established with countries from across the world, including in the Indo-Pacific, and notably with Korea. The threats we face come from all domains — whether cyber or space. The point is that the world around us is changing at an incredible speed, and now Europe is changing, too.
When we talk about security, we must talk about Ukraine. A proud European nation that continues to fight for freedom. Russia is not winning this war — it is losing in reaching its strategic goals and pays an increasingly heavy price for its unprovoked and unjust aggression. The EU will always stand with Ukraine. We all want this horror and bloodshed to end. But the war must end in a way that does not sow the seeds for future conflicts. This is what the EU continues to work on with Ukraine and with our partners — to deliver real long-term security for Ukraine so that we can secure a full, just and lasting peace.
The second area is trade and investment overseas. The EU Free Trade Agreement with Korea was a pioneer in 2011, and has delivered in terms of economic growth. There is a long list of new trade deals the EU struck recently, including with India, Indonesia, Australia and Mercosur. And we are not finished yet. In uncertain times, the world wants to trade more with predictable and rules-based partners like the EU. Our trade network has never expanded so fast because open markets and reliable value chains make all our economies stronger.
The EU is diversifying its value chains for chips and clean tech. We are diversifying our supply of critical raw materials and our network of agreements currently includes almost 50 percent of global gross domestic product.
The third area I wish to highlight is diplomacy. Supporting the UN and its Charter and defending human rights are an essential part of EU's global outreach. Together with its member states, the EU makes the single largest financial contribution to the UN system year after year. In a more conflictual world, we need a rules-based global governance.
In this context, partnerships like the one uniting the EU and Korea are more important than ever in today's volatile world. Trust is precious and the value of trust is both political and economic. War in the Middle East has rocked the entire global economy. The Russian aggression against Ukraine has entered its fifth year, with repercussions well beyond Europe, as demonstrated by Russia and North Korea's growing military nexus.
We need to work with like-minded partners to resist shocks and build new global alliances for growth and sustainable development. The strategic partnership between the EU and Korea is a model that is becoming ever more relevant and successful as time passes.
Ugo Astuto is EU ambassador to the Republic of Korea.