Emerging Issues in European Economic Diplomacy

Preface

Economic diplomacy is of paramount importance for Europe given its position as a major global economic player. International trade, foreign investment, energy, and finance make up the landscape of economic development in Europe. EU member states, as well EU as an international entity engage in economic diplomacy to advance their interests, promote economic growth, and address various global challenges.

Europe is a major exporter and importer of goods and services. Therefore, Economic diplomacy helps negotiate trade agreements, resolve trade disputes, and open up new markets for European businesses. The EU, in particular, has a robust trade diplomacy agenda and has negotiated numerous trade agreements with countries and regions worldwide. At the same time, attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) is vital for economic development. European countries actively engage in economic diplomacy to attract FDI by offering incentives, promoting their business environments, and ensuring legal protections for investors. At the same time, increasingly, the problem of energy security is emerging as a leading factor in international order and prosperity. Energy diplomacy plays a significant role in Europe due to its dependence on energy imports, particularly natural gas and oil. Economic diplomacy helps secure stable energy supplies, diversify energy sources, and manage energy-related geopolitical risks. Economic diplomacy also extends to financial matters, including currency stability, financial regulation, and cooperation with international financial institutions. The European Central Bank (ECB) and European Union institutions often engage in financial diplomacy to safeguard the euro and financial stability. Europe seeks to strengthen its alliances and partnerships with other countries and regions through economic diplomacy. This can include cooperation on economic development projects, infrastructure investment, and regional economic integration.

Economic diplomacy is essential for addressing global challenges such as climate change, sustainable development, and public health crises. European nations often work together to promote common positions and initiatives in international forums. At the same time, economic diplomacy economic diplomacy emerges as a leading factor during political and economic crises. European nations coordinate their efforts to manage financial crises, debt restructuring, and economic recovery, as seen during the European sovereign debt crisis in the early 2010s.

The EU leverages its economic power to shape global governance, advocate for multilateralism, and promote European values and norms. Economic diplomacy contributes to peace and stability by fostering economic interdependence among nations. Economic cooperation and integration are often seen as mechanisms to reduce the likelihood of conflict. it is therefore clear that Economic diplomacy is a multifaceted tool that European countries, both individually and collectively through the EU, use to promote their economic interests, enhance their global standing, and address pressing global challenges. Given Europe’s economic significance, its engagement in economic diplomacy has a profound impact on the international economic and political landscape.

The book has six chapters, covering major challenges of economic diplomacy for the European Union:

In the first chapter, entitled Economic Diplomacy Historical Milestones, we examine the rich historical tradition of diplomacy, and by extension economic and commercial diplomacy, as it took shape in the imposing royal courts of the powerful states of antiquity. A useful compass for every rationally thinking person and rationally managed organizations, state and non-state.

In the second chapter, entitled How safe we are? Geopolitical shocks & European Economic Diplomacy, we “swim in the deep waters” of international security, offering both the theoretical framework and the practical dimension of its problems.

The third chapter, entitled Ukraine Post-War Reconstruction: the role of European Economic Diplomacy, is more of an “exercise” of theoretical models, but with an entirely practical dimension to the burning problem of the war in Ukraine. Economic diplomacy emerges once again as the most appropriate means of resolving disputes in a creative way for sustainable development in a region of our planet that has been severely affected by war.

In the fourth chapter, entitled Trade, Development Aid & Democracy, we attempt to summarize and update the strategy and instruments that combine economic aid with the difficult task of social and economic development, always in a context of democracy and respect for human rights: perhaps the most difficult task for the European Union if it wants to maintain its rich historical tradition.

The last two chapters, the fifth and sixth, entitled Economic Diplomacy Studies: organizing postgraduate studies in Economic Diplomacy and European Universities: bridges of diplomacy & prosperity, respectively, focus on the crucial issue of economic diplomacy education: how can postgraduate studies be organized in an effective and timely manner, and what is the contemporary role of universities in bridging diplomacy and prosperity?

If I had been working in a vacuum, I doubt whether anything worthwhile would have ever been produced. So, I am deeply grateful for the interest, advice and criticism of a number of people from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Greece where I worked as an economic diplomat for 24 years, as well as to friends in the foreign diplomatic community, and of course to fellow academics from Panteion University of Social & Political Sciences.

It goes without saying that any error or omission is entirely my fault.

It is my expectation that this book will contribute to the debate on the role of economic diplomacy.

Andreas Papastamou, Ph.D.

Department of International, European & Area Studies

Panteion University of Social & Political Sciences

Athens, Greece