Europe’s Values and Economic Interests In an Uncertain World Order

European Union is in competition with authoritarianism. Russia's invasion of Ukraine exposed this rivalry with direct consequences, not least in economic terms.Europe stands for human rights, values and democracy. In this sense, the EU is willing to act as an actor and is implementing these principles in its decisionmaking, like in the supply chain regulation. However the current developments in the energy supply are manifesting how difficult it is to implement this claim. Relations (or even dependencies) with China are also viewed more critically. This complicated mixture of human rights standards and economic dependencies is framed by security interests of the EU. The latter is weighted much more heavily than it was just a few months ago. With this debate the aim is to show the various aspects of the claim and reality, as well as create awareness for SMEs about these problematics and provide an outlook for the future policy debates