Legal Foundations of EU Economic Security: Shaping the Imaginable

As exemplified by the EU’s Economic Security Strategy, security has emerged as a guiding objective across a growing number of legislative fields. Yet the instruments through which this agenda is pursued continue to rely on pre-existing Treaty competences. This raises the question of how these inherited legal bases shape, enable or constrain the EU’s emerging economic security paradigm. This article examines that relationship by analysing the legislative initiatives adopted under the Economic Security Strategy’s ‘promote’ and ‘protect’ pillars, focusing on their legal bases. It argues that the legal foundations used, particularly Articles 114, 173 and 207 of the Treaty of the Functioning of the EU (TFEU), while not predetermining policy action, subtly influence the scope and ambition of resulting policy outputs. Harmonisation measures based on Article 114 TFEU tend to be more comprehensive when their objective remains regulatory. Industrial policy instruments under Article 173 TFEU, by contrast, face more legal and political friction due to their relatively underdeveloped scope. Finally, trade-related measures under Article 207 TFEU may benefit from a robust and broad legal mandate. While these legal bases do not impose strict limits, they shape what is politically and legally conceivable, thus shaping EU economic security policy alongside the political process.