The European Commission will present a proposal for a so called “anti-coercion instrument”, a trade policy tool to be used against countries that in various ways threaten us.
Much of this is still unclear, both when it comes to the exact purpose of the instrument and how it can be used practically. The Swedish Confederation of Enterprise has in this paper briefly put down our positions regarding the need for the instrument and which measures could be used, and not be used, within the framework of the instrument. We want:
- The instrument must be used also for the protection of businesses, not just states
- The instrument should be used also against informal threats, not just formal and transparent ones
- The EU intelligence capacity to investigate into and find the source of any threat must be increased
- The counter measures the EU develops may not undermine the basic functioning of the market economy
- Suitable counter measures should be specifically targeting the source of the threat, for example by bans against exports of some technology
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