Brussels flexes its muscles

The EU is trying to ramp up its de-risking efforts.

Some context: The de-risking debate has dominated China-EU relations in recent months.

• Beijing argues against broad de-risking and advocates for economic openness.
• Brussels is adamant about the need to protect itself by putting restrictions on trade and investment with China.

To beef up economic security, on Wednesday the EU Commission called for:

• Expanding and standardizing outbound investment screening rules
• A 12-month monitoring period to determine if EU outbound investment risks the transfer of sensitive technology
• Better coordinating the EU’s approach to dual-use exports (those that can be used for both civilian and military applications)
• Universities and research institutes to identify research-related security risks, including those related to dual-use technologies

Get smart: If implemented, EU efforts to unify and standardize economic security regimes across the bloc will stymie China’s efforts to circumvent Brussels by currying favor with individual EU states.

Get smarter: We doubt we’ll see much progress on these measures before the EU’s parliamentary election in June, and even then, they’ll be subject to the bloc’s ponderous policymaking process.

• In the meantime, expect Beijing to aggressively lobby EU members to water down these initiatives.