Issue A multi-level Korean strategy toward EU institutions and individual member states

Summary

The report's fifth recommendation is not to treat the EU only as a single market and policy actor. Member states differ in their exposure to Chinese trade and investment, their view of the Russian threat, their fiscal room, their industrial policies and their attitudes toward foreign investment. Korea's EU strategy should therefore combine cooperation with EU institutions with a multi-level approach that reflects each member state's industrial base and policy needs. Central and Eastern Europe has become a hub for Korean investment and exports in batteries, cars and defence, while Germany, France and the Netherlands play leading roles in advanced manufacturing, equipment and materials, R&D and rule-making. Cooperation with individual countries should weigh industrial ecosystems, EU funds and state aid, workforce and infrastructure, and each country's place in supply chains, with the EU-level competitiveness partnership and high-level economic dialogue serving as coordinating channels.