(CN) — Europe must strengthen its position on the world stage or face becoming the “chessboard” on which superpowers vie for “power and glory,” a pan-European think tank said in a wide-ranging report Tuesday.
The European Council on Foreign Relations urged the European Union to exert more influence on the world stage or face becoming a pawn in a growing struggle for power in a “new world order” where the United States, China, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are competing ever more fiercely.
“Unless it acts soon, Europe may become not a player in the new world order but the chessboard on which great powers compete for power and glory,” the council said in the report.
The council cited the actions of U.S. President Donald Trump in particular as threatening Europe's sovereignty and self-interest.
The think tank said Trump's unilateral decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal and punish companies that do business with Iran “exposed European vulnerability.”
It said that even though companies such as Total, a French oil company, and Airbus, a French airplane manufacturer, were conducting lawful business with Iran, the U.S. sanctions forced them to pull out of their Iranian investments.
“But the fate of the Iran nuclear deal is just the tip of the iceberg of European vulnerability,” the report said. The council warned that the United States in the future might seek to restrict European trade with China or Russia “in the same way they have done with Iran.”
The EU does an estimated $216 billion each year in trade with Russia and $400 billion a year with China.
The report found Europe “increasingly vulnerable to external pressure” that prevents the EU from exercising its sovereign interests.
“This vulnerability threatens the European Union’s security, economic health, and diplomatic freedom of action, allowing other powers to impose their preferences on it,” the report said.
In this world of increasing conflict, the report said Europe must seek to continue backing its alliance with the United States while also exerting its independence from the U.S. and supporting the international system of laws.
“Most fundamentally, the EU needs to learn to think like a geopolitical power,” the report said. “European governments’ ability to have a voice in the world is under threat.”
It warned that advances in technology, with the creation of a 5G network and a cyber world dominated by artificial intelligence and machine learning, the so-called “Internet of Things,” will make Europe even more vulnerable. Advances in artificial intelligence might leave Europe on the sidelines if the rules of this huge new emerging market are set by China and the United States.
The report painted a picture in which Europe could be forced into submitting to the wishes of the United States, Russia and China even in matters such as helping troubled countries on the doorstep of Europe, such as in Africa and Eastern Europe.
To ward off this possibility, the think tank urged Europe to do more to develop its own military and technological might.
“Europe also struggles to guarantee its security. What could the EU do if Russia decided to treat Poland or Latvia in the way it has treated Ukraine, using a combination of cyber attacks, disinformation, and direct action to destabilize an EU state and perhaps overthrow its government?” the report asked.