The Red Sea crisis represents a new geopolitical challenge for the European Union.

These figures explain why: the Suez Canal, at the north end of the Red Sea, carries 12-15% of global goods trade and 25-30% of shipping containers. For the EU, 23% of all goods imports came by ship from Asia in 2022, the vast majority travelling through the canal.

As a result, the European Union may risk exacerbating the persistent inflationary dynamics due to disruptions to shipping through the Red Sea.

As the European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said, “Certainly, it’s a risk factor”.

Even if the potential risks are clear, how the European Commission and the Member States will take action still needs to be clarified.

On 19 December 2023, the US launched a mission called “Operation Prosperity Guardian” to respond to Houthi-led attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.

Initially, the EU said that Member States would contribute to the Operation, but then some countries like France, Italy and Spain took more cautious positions. In particular, they wouldn’t join a mission that didn’t have the backing of either NATO or the EU and were quite hesitant to join a US-led operation.

The Netherlands, Denmark and Germany were the only EU countries that openly backed the US operation.

Some analysts reported the possibility of a “new EU operation” being launched at the end of February. Such evolution should be monitored, as for the time being, Member States appear pretty divided on the opportunity to take an active role in the Red Sea.

As a result, the EU stance also seems quite hesitant: while Bruxelles recognizes the danger of the Houthis’ actions, at the moment, it has yet to take a solid posture. According to Farea Al-Muslimi, a research fellow for the Middle East and North Africa programme at Chatham House, this is due to the willingness to avoid further spillover in the region following the Gaza war, creating a new active frontline.

At the same time, as underlined by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Antonio Tajani, this new crisis recalls the need for an “authentic common European defence”, mainly due to the “yet another threat” posed by attacks by Yemeni Houthi militias on commercial ships.

To conclude, while the threat to commercial trade is evident, the European Union still struggles to take action jointly in security and foreign policies.

Written by: Cristina Ceccarelli