Toward a Progressive Geopolitical EU: Principles and Recommendations

Having coined the term “geopolitical Commission” in her maiden speech as Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen more recently declared that the EU has now matured into a geopolitical union. This purported coming of age has occurred against the backdrop of a major hardening of the global political order. Re-emerging systemic rivalries are jeopardising global supply chains and multilateralism, whilst Russia’s aggression is a threat to EU and global security. All the while, the climate crisis is accelerating. However, as the tenure of the first geopolitical Commission comes to an end, competition and conflict, rather than cooperation, appear to define and frame the EU’s geopolitical turn. With the 2024 European elections on the horizon, this report formulates elements of what a progressive geopolitical EU could entail in the coming years.