Today's proposal sets our plans to de-risk rather than to decouple our economic interdependences,

and to assert our position as a leader in the global technology race.

To achieve this, we cannot afford to be fragmented.

When we don't act together, we're a playground.

When we do act together, we're a player.

That was the voice of Magrita Vesteyer, Executive Vice President of the European Commission.

She was speaking in Brussels a few weeks ago with a message very much targeted at EU member

states, urging them to stick together on the planned European economic security strategy.

And that is the topic of today's MLEX podcast. Welcome aboard. I'm James Panicki, senior editor on

Mlex's Asia Desk, coming to you from the LexisNexis offices in Melbourne, Australia. It's great to have

your company. Now, the idea of creating rules to curb EU outbound investment is a tricky one

for EU institutions. After years of promoting market liberalisation

and international trade, this initiative sounds like it's, if not heading in the opposite direction,

at the very least injecting a note of caution. But such is the evolving global landscape

with investment in sensitive technologies, in particular those with military applications,

now raising real concerns. At the heart of these new rules lies the hope that the capital

research, expertise and knowledge of EU companies isn't used to fuel technological advances

that could enhance foreign military and intelligence capabilities.

China and Russia aren't mentioned explicitly, but those are certainly the big kids in this

current geopolitical playground that are creating the most concern for the EU.

Yohanna Supinska is an MLEX senior correspondent correspondent covering trade and investment from Brussels and she's

with us now.

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