Open but Secure: Europe’s Path to Strategic Interdependence

The report argues that Europe must move beyond the binary of autarchy and dependency by adopting 'strategic interdependence'—managing global connections to avoid coercive imbalances. It outlines a roadmap across foreign policy, defence, climate, migration, technology, and economic growth, emphasizing the need to boost productivity, diversify supply chains for critical raw materials, and increase innovation financing to counter the relative economic decline compared to the US and China.

• Europe is experiencing a relative economic decline, with its share of global GDP falling from nearly a quarter at the start of the millennium to 15% (or 17% at current prices), and productivity growth stagnating at 0.7% annually, significantly trailing the US (1.8%) and China (9%).
• To enhance security and support Ukraine, the report suggests a new benchmark where each EU member state commits to spending 0.3% of GDP on arming and supporting Kyiv.
• Europe should shift its green technology strategy away from sectors already dominated by China, such as solar power, and instead prioritize emerging technologies still in contention, specifically battery production.
• To mitigate supply disruptions of critical raw materials (CRMs), the EU should establish a CRM reserve, similar to the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and revamp the Global Gateway initiative to foster partnerships with resource-rich countries.
• Europe faces a severe demographic crisis; by 2050, the 75- to 84-year age group is expected to increase by nearly 60%, while the working-age population is projected to shrink by 20%.
• The EU's technology sector is heavily dependent on external providers, with nearly 80% of semiconductor firm suppliers headquartered outside the bloc and China producing 80% of the EU's solar panels.
• European start-ups struggle to scale due to a lack of venture capital; since 2013, they received $130 billion in venture capital, which is approximately nine times less than their American competitors.
• To address innovation financing gaps, the report suggests relaxing Solvency II regulatory requirements to allow insurance assets—which represent around 60% of EU GDP—to be invested in venture capital funds.
• The report recommends a comprehensive security agreement with the UK to restore intelligence sharing and integrate the British defence industry into the wider European framework.

APA

World Economic Forum (2025). Open but Secure: Europe’s Path to Strategic Interdependence. https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Open_but_Secure_Europe’s_Path_to_Strategic_Interdependence_2025.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Open but Secure: Europe’s Path to Strategic Interdependence. 2025. https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Open_but_Secure_Europe’s_Path_to_Strategic_Interdependence_2025.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Open but Secure: Europe’s Path to Strategic Interdependence |date=January 2025 |url=https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Open_but_Secure_Europe’s_Path_to_Strategic_Interdependence_2025.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2025open, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Open but Secure: Europe’s Path to Strategic Interdependence}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2025}, month = jan, url = {https://reports.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Open_but_Secure_Europe’s_Path_to_Strategic_Interdependence_2025.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }