The Atlantic in (New) Geopolitics of the European Union

Abstract

The European Union’s geopolitics has undergone several metamorphoses. The most recent is influenced by the war in Ukraine and the US unilateralism exercised by the Trump administration, threatening transatlantic solidarity and European security. More continental, since the eastern enlargements and the United Kingdom’s departure, the Union continues to have an important asset in
the Atlantic, for geographic reasons (it is a Eurasian peninsula) and political-economic reasons (it is a trading power, and the largest tonnage of transactions is carried by sea). Its identity matrix leads it to prioritize the Atlantic Alliance and the African Union, ECOWAS, Mercosur, CELAC, and the Caribbean Community, in the Middle and South Atlantic, where it plays a security role, helping to prevent
and combat human and drug trafficking, piracy, and threats to intercontinental submarine fiber optic cables. At the bilateral or multilateral level – the EU-Mercosur agreement is awaiting ratification – Brussels is putting the Atlantic back at the center
of its geopolitics.