The 7Ds – De-risking Globalisation in Depth
22 April 2024
Several crises over the last two decades, including the Covid-19 pandemic and, most recently, the Russian war against Ukraine, have shown the vulnerability of global supply-chain systems and have shattered illusions about ever-progressing globalisation. This has forced the EU to rethink its traditional reliance on and support for multilateralism and global cooperation, which had led to an over-dependence on certain countries and producers in crucial fields such as raw materials and chemical products. Over the last couple of years, the Union has responded to these developments by creating a series of policies and launching initiatives to de- risk its economic relations and reduce the potential for political blackmail.
In 2023, the Martens Centre published its 7Ds for Sustainability strategy document. This text comprised 175 proposals for the next legislature to future-proof EU policy in the areas of debt, decarbonisation, defence, democracy, demography, de-risking globalisation, and digitalisation. Sustainability was chosen as the guiding principle to ensure that the policies reconcile the needs of both the present and the future, and systematically include the interests of the next generations.
The 7Ds document has already inspired reflection on what to do over the next five years. These discussions are based on Christian Democrat and conservative thinking and the available in-house expertise of the Martens Centre. For the next phase of intense discussions about the programme to be implemented during the 2024–9 legislature, the Martens Centre has invited renowned external experts to put forward their own, more extensive proposals based on the original document, thereby deepening the available expertise. It is hoped that these proposals, published at the beginning of April 2024, will help to clarify the way forward at a critical juncture, when the European Parliament, the European Commission and the European Council are negotiating on and finalising their strategic priorities.
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