Harnessing the Full Potential of EU Free Trade Agreements for Economic Security

Practical Information

Composition
Administrator: Marco Ristori 
Assistant: Karen Aghadjian
Contact: Marco.Ristori@eesc.europa.eu
Plenary session: December 2026

The objective of this own-initiative opinion is to examine how the European Union can better leverage its Free Trade Agreements as effective instruments of economic security, competitiveness and resilience. It frames the effective use of FTAs as a component of EU’s economic security and identifies the persistent underutilisation of preferential tariffs - particularly among SMEs - as a structural vulnerability rather than a purely technical issue. The opinion analyses the main barriers preventing businesses from fully benefiting from FTAs’ preferential tariffs, and assesses how this underutilisation undermines trade diversification, supply-chain resilience and the development of trusted international partnerships. 

The opinion makes recommendations on how to improve the use of FTAs and how more effective use of FTAs can strengthen EU’s competitiveness as well as public support for an open and rules-based EU trade policy.