European Strategic Autonomy and the Cross-Border Payments Market in the Era of Deglobalization

Persistent reliance of European financial institutions on non-EU payment networks highlights a critical vulnerability in the Union’s financial architecture. In an era of deglobalisation, sanctions warfare, and contested multilateralism, access to cross-border payment infrastructures may become a vector of geopolitical leverage. This in-depth analysis explores this emerging risk and argues that, while long-term strategies should aim at strategic autonomy, extending the extra-territorial reach of EU law could strengthen systemic resilience in the interim.