The Economic and Technological Resilience in the European Union: Geopolitical Fragmentation, Economic Security and the Future of Competitiveness

The European Union operates in a highly fragmented international environment shaped by geopolitical rivalry, geoeconomic competition, technological disruption, and growing uncertainty regarding critical external dependencies. These developments have elevated economic security and resilience to the centre of European policymaking, challenging assumptions that traditionally linked economic openness with stability, prosperity, and sustainable development. The purpose of this article is to examine how geopolitical and geoeconomic fragmentation is reshaping the European Union’s approach to economic and technological resilience and to analyse the implications of this transformation for long-term competitiveness and sustainable development. Employing a qualitative research design based on policy analysis and systematic document analysis, supported by secondary statistical evidence from European and international institutional sources, the study investigates three interconnected dimensions of resilience: technological resilience, resource resilience, and competitiveness resilience. The findings indicate that the European Union is moving from an efficiency-oriented model of globalisation towards a resilience-oriented governance framework focused on managing sensitive dependencies in critical technologies, strategic resources, and supply chains. The analysis further demonstrates that resilience cannot be sustained through risk reduction measures alone. Its long-term effectiveness depends on productivity growth, innovation performance, technological capabilities, industrial strength, and investment capacity. The article concludes that competitiveness constitutes a foundational condition for durable resilience and that economic security increasingly functions as an enabling factor for sustainable development in a more contested global economic environment.