Strengthening economic security is the subject of a joint communication, “ResourceEu”, issued today by the European Commission and by the High Representative for foreign affairs and security policy that outlines “concrete steps to reinforce the EU’s strength and resilience in the face of growing external economic threats, while retaining our openness and commitment to international trade and investment”, the European communication says. The general goals of the new approach include promoting the industrial sector, protecting European interests and cooperating with countries that share the same principles. In terms of working method, the existing tools will be used more proactively, information gathering techniques will be upgraded to steer the EU’s decisions, and coordination with the member states and companies will be improved. The goal of increasing Europe’s economic weight and access to the single market will be focussed on managing specific high-risk situations. Six of such actions are priorities: reducing strategic dependence on goods and services; attracting safe investments to the EU; supporting a dynamic European space and defence industry and other critical industries; ensuring the EU’s leadership in critical technology; protecting sensitive information and data; protecting critical European infrastructure. A key feature will be strengthening cooperation with companies. Today, as part of ResourceEu, the first flagship proposal is coming out too, focussed on fighting Europe’s overdependence on foreign suppliers of critical raw materials and semiconductors.