We discuss the geoeconomics of the Single Market in financial services in the European Union
(EU). We examine three case studies that concern the EU and other major jurisdictions and that
range from incipient geoeconomic use to outward weaponisation of the Single Market ifinnance.
These cases are (1) the post-2008 crisis transatlantic tug of war, whereby the EU leveraged its Single
Market vis-à-vis the United States, seeking to set the rules for glob afilnance; (2) the Brexit negotiations,
when the EU acted as a bloc against the United Kingdom and successfully safeguarded
the integrity of the Single Market; and (3) the fulsome war in Ukraine, during which the EU
‘weaponised’ its Single Market through the adoption of financial sanctions against Russia. We argue
that a combination of external and internal factors accounts for this pattern: the evolution of
the international economic and political system, in particular, the...
Show moreWe discuss the geoeconomics of the Single Market in financial services in the European Union
(EU). We examine three case studies that concern the EU and other major jurisdictions and that
range from incipient geoeconomic use to outward weaponisation of the Single Market ifinnance.
These cases are (1) the post-2008 crisis transatlantic tug of war, whereby the EU leveraged its Single
Market vis-à-vis the United States, seeking to set the rules for glob afilnance; (2) the Brexit negotiations,
when the EU acted as a bloc against the United Kingdom and successfully safeguarded
the integrity of the Single Market; and (3) the fulsome war in Ukraine, during which the EU
‘weaponised’ its Single Market through the adoption of financial sanctions against Russia. We argue
that a combination of external and internal factors accounts for this pattern: the evolution of
the international economic and political system, in particular, the increasing challenges to the liberal
international order, and intra-EU developments, namely, the EU’s ability to deploy its Single
Market geoeconomically.
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