The EU and the geopolitics of COVID19

The von der Leyen Commission has claimed to be the first geopolitical Commission because of its ambition and realist approach to world affairs. The pandemic may foster more multilateral cooperation in search for the vaccine, but the recession may accelerate trade wars and nationalism.

Show Notes

The EU High Representative for foreign affairs and security policy said “the EU has to learn to use the language of power” before the pandemic. It is unclear what the impact of the COVID19 will be on this ambition. If the lockdown recession relaunches the USA-China trade war the EU is likely to be unheard and strongly affected. 

The pandemic is also already fostering external interference in EU member states, be it economic or in the form of narrative wars. Nevertheless, the pandemic may also make the member states aware of shared risks and facilitate more cooperation among them. 

Listen to the debate with: 

Miruna Butnaru-Troncotăis lecturer in International Relations at the National School for Political Studies and Administration of Bucharest and member of the OpenEUdebate network. 

Antonia Colibasanu is senior geopolitical analyst lecturer. Geopolitcal Futures´Chief Operating Officer. Lecturer at the National School for Political Studies and Administration of Bucharest. 

Ignacio Molina is senior analyst at the Elcano Institute and professor at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.

Moderation: Carlos Carnicero Urabayen. 

Technical production and edition: Franco Delle Donne. 

An OpenEUpodcast produced by Agenda Pública.

Stay tuned to find out more on these scenarios and visit openeudebate.eu or connect on Twitter or Facebook to follow up the debates and find out on next activities. 

Follow us on Twitter (@OpenEUdebate) and Facebook.  

openeudebate.eu

What is Europe after coronavirus?

A series of ten podcasts by the Jean Monnet OpenEUdebate network. Each podcast features debates among experts from academia, civil society and politics on the effect of the pandemic on different scenarios for the future of the European Union.

This podcast series has been made with the financial support of the European Union Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). The podcasts only reflect the views of the speakers and the Commission and the Agency cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.