Margot Wendling
Author
The 2025 Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) Ideas Lab took place shortly after the meeting of Presidents Zelensky and Trump and the speech by US Vice-President Vanceat the Munich 2025 Security Conference. The atmosphere in Brussels was tense, marked by shock, instability, and fear. Discussions about geopolitics and the European Union’s (EU) security vulnerabilities were pervasive. It was evident to everyone that the EU faces unprecedented threats. Decisive actions must therefore be taken urgently to allow the EU to move beyond a passive stance and to become the new leader the world needs.
This is exactly where Sufficiency comes in!
This year, the CEPS Ideas Lab dedicated a full session to Sufficiency. Under the title “Enough is Enough: Redefining prosperity within Planetary Boundaries”, where Katherine Richardson (University of Copenhagen), Josefina Lindblom (European Commission), Patricia Urban and Luca Nipius (CEPS) and I discussed the role of sufficiency in shaping the future of the EU.
To fully harness the potential of sufficiency, it is essential to understand the underlying theories. Sufficiency is at a crossroad of theories developed in philosophy and several scientific disciplines, representing more than just “Enough”. Sufficiency embodies an equity driven distributive justice theory within the planetary boundaries.
Sufficiency as a geopolitical instrument is gaining renewed attention. Emmanuel Hache advocates for recognizing sufficiency as a strategic lever in the New World Order. By avoiding the demand for natural resources, sufficiency diminishes EU import dependencies to energy and materials, thereby reducing its vulnerability to external shocks. In the volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) geopolitical landscape, sufficiency transcends its role as a mere resource management tool, emerging as a crucial instrument in redefining global power dynamics.
Unlocking the Geopolitical Power of Sufficiency in the EU is the focus of the World Sufficiency Lab’s (WSL) upcoming flagship publication, “The Sufficiency Gap Report”. In this report, 19 experts from 10 organizations estimate how sufficiency can reduce the EU's import dependencies and investment needs while achieving our environmental and societal goals. Early findings indicate that prioritizing sufficiency is crucial for the EU to meet its security, economic, social and environmental objectives.
In a nutshell, without integrating and prioritizing sufficiency in its policies, the EU is unlikely to secure itself, promote peace, uphold its values, or ensure the well-being of its people as outlined in Article 3 of the EU treaty. The “Sufficiency Gap Report” that will be published in the following months will soon provide the blueprint for the EU Sufficiency Roadmap to safeguard our future.