An EU that safeguards and promotes its interests and values in the wider world

Protecting values and interest abroad

The world the EU finds itself in in the years to come, poses great challenges. The core values of the liberal world order are under threat and the rules-based multilateral order that has brought unprecedented security and prosperity is being challenged. Traditional partnerships cannot be taken for granted. Focus is less on cooperation and more on confrontation. These developments call for a European Union that safeguards European values and interests abroad and defends the rules-based multilateral order. In a turbulent world, a united EU puts us in a position of power. The fact that it has the world’s biggest internal market gives it great economic power, which can and must be used to greater advantage, for example by making greater use of the EU investment and trade policy to strengthen the rules-based international order and ensure that it reflects European values and standards. The EU is in a position and has to show leadership when it comes to addressing global challenges, for example in relation to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. This is in the interest of the EU, and in the interest of the wider world. To deliver results on the EU’s key priorities – migration, security, a robust economy and climate – vigorous external action by the EU is a necessity. This calls for greater coherence between external and internal policies.