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DRAFT REPORT (2025/2113(INI))

Role of trade in strengthening the EU’s economic security

INTA-PR-784220

Committee on International Trade · Rapporteur: Juan Ignacio Zoido Álvarez

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✦ In short · AI summary of this text, generated 4 Sept 2026

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This draft report sets out Parliament's position on the role of trade in EU economic security, welcoming the December 2025 joint communication and calling for openness, diversification, and competitiveness as primary tools, with targeted measures only where necessary. It stresses credible enforcement of trade rules, coordinated use of instruments, and parliamentary scrutiny, while supporting WTO reform and cooperation with trusted partners.

Committee position. The rapporteur proposes a resolution that welcomes the joint communication, reaffirms openness and diversification, calls for targeted measures only when necessary, and stresses enforcement and parliamentary oversight.

Key points

  1. Welcomes the joint communication of 3 December 2025 as a necessary step to strengthen the EU's common approach to economic security.
  2. Acknowledges that EU integration into global markets increases exposure to disruptions and coercive practices, and that vulnerabilities are structural.
  3. Reaffirms openness and diversification as primary means to reduce vulnerability, and calls for new trade agreements and partnerships.
  4. Warns that overregulation weakens competitiveness and undermines resilience; stresses that a fully functioning single market is a pillar of economic security.
  5. Acknowledges that targeted mitigating measures, including restrictions on market access, may be legitimate when risks are severe, but must be proportionate and based on clear criteria.
  6. Calls for coherent and decisive use of existing EU instruments, avoiding new tools unless gaps are identified.
  7. Calls on the Commission to ensure timely, predictable enforcement and a gradual, reversible escalation approach.
  8. Insists on Parliament's role in democratic scrutiny of economic security measures.
  9. Calls for consistent application of the FDI Screening Regulation and heightened vigilance for investments in critical infrastructure.
  10. Stresses risks from outbound investment and technology transfers, and calls for maintaining control over critical technologies.
  11. Reaffirms commitment to a rules-based multilateral trading system with WTO at its core, and supports WTO reform.
  12. Encourages closer cooperation with trusted partners to build networked resilience.

Who is affected

  • The EU institutions, particularly the Commission, are called to act on trade agreements, enforcement, and investment screening.
  • Member states are expected to apply FDI screening consistently and coordinate with the Commission.
  • Economic operators face potential targeted measures and benefit from legal certainty and predictable enforcement.