The EU and its Member States will find it increasingly difficult to sustain the rules-based order and the Union's own economic prosperity without a sizeable and consistent investment in maritime power. The politics of the EU's approach to maritime security is conditioned by questions of geographical priorities and how to balance 'soft' and 'hard' maritime risks. The Strategic Compass should set measurable targets that lead to a higher and more credible EU naval presence, and it may even instigate a shift in the way the EU thinks about maritime security more broadly
