Reconfiguring European Integration Under Geopolitical Pressure: A Framework of Geopolitical Adaptive Integration

The European Union is adapting its economic governance to an international environment shaped by geopolitical rivalry, geoeconomic competition and security challenges. Existing research has examined economic security, industrial policy, technological sovereignty and competitiveness largely as separate policy fields, while paying less attention to the common logic connecting these developments. This article addresses that gap by proposing geopolitical adaptive integration as an analytical framework for explaining how external geopolitical and geoeconomic pressures influence the evolution of European economic governance. The study employs a qualitative research design combining document analysis, institutional analysis and comparative policy analysis. The empirical analysis draws on selected academic literature published primarily between 2019 and 2026, together with key European Union policy and strategic documents published between 2021 and 2026. The analysis suggests that European economic governance is no longer guided solely by market integration and regulatory coordination. It now incorporates policies designed to strengthen industrial capacity, reduce external dependencies, protect critical technologies and enhance the Union’s capacity to respond to geopolitical and geoeconomic challenges. These developments preserve the institutional foundations of European integration while redefining its policy priorities. The article contributes to the academic discussion by introducing Geopolitical Adaptive Integration as an analytical framework for interpreting the evolution of European economic governance and for analysing the relationship between integration, security and geoeconomics.