This is an official side event on the occasion of the Munich Security Conference 2022.

How can seemingly competing paradigms such as free trade and climate protection or development and sustainability be reconciled to mitigate insecurities caused by drivers of climate change?

While the EU’s model of economic liberalisation is often seen as a major pacifying element of European integration and a key component of its Structural Power, its negative consequences should not be denied. Emissions caused by the transportation of goods, or the destruction of ecosystems - such as the Amazon rainforest through intensified production - contribute not only to climate change but also to exacerbating insecurities worldwide. This is an example of the Security-Development Nexus in practice.

However, attempts to incorporate sustainability in international trade  (e.g. EU-MERCOSUR Free Trade Agreement) are often met with fierce resistance from developing countries, against what is perceived to be an imposition of Western values. This side event of the Munich Security Conference shines light on various conflicting concepts intrinsic to the European project and strives to develop avenues for rethinking geoeconomics in the 21st century.

Speakers:

Olivia Lazard is a visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe. Her research focuses on the geopolitics of climate, the transition ushered by climate change, and the risks of conflict and fragility associated with climate change and environmental collapse.

Jovan Ratković was advisor to the President of Serbia (2004-12) and advisor to the Minister of Defense of Serbia and Montenegro (2003-04). For two decades he has been actively involved in social democratic party politics at the national, European and international levels.


Moderator: Fabian Keske (EuropaNova Germany e.V.)

Photo: ©NASA / unsplash.com