Europe’s security starts at its ports

Would you feel comfortable if a stranger held the keys to your home? Probably not. Yet across Europe, we are allowing foreign states to hold the keys to our front door  –  our ports  –  controlling access to the gateways of our economies. 

European ports are central to our competitiveness, security and resilience. They handle more than 74% of external trade and support more than 423,000 direct jobs. Ports also serve 395 million passengers every year and underpin economic growth, defence readiness and the energy transition. 

Ports can no longer be treated as neutral commercial spaces. For far too long, Europe has accepted that foreign governments and state-linked companies can invest in and hold stakes in some of our most strategic ports. We have given external actors direct access to our critical infrastructure. China exemplifies what’s at stake. Beijing's three major port investors  – state-owned COSCO and China Merchants Ports, and Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison  – hold minority or majority stakes in around 30 EU port terminals. This includes terminals in the EU’s busiest ports: Rotterdam, Antwerp-Bruges and Hamburg. To avoid a waterbed effect, we need a European approach.

It’s time to stop being  naïve: in an increasingly competitive geopolitical environment, dependence on foreign investment in critical infrastructure raises serious questions about security, transparency and resilience. 

However, this is not just about geopolitics. Ports with weak oversight are ports where criminal networks thrive. Europe is already the world's largest cocaine market, and the vast majority arrives by sea, through the very terminals we are losing control over. Right now, stricter controls in one port just shift problems to another. We need better cooperation, information sharing, and swift action to stop criminal networks from exploiting our ports. Non-transparent port management is also a public safety risk. 

That is why the EPP Group has welcomed the Ports Strategy presented by the European Commission earlier this year. The Commission's strategy finally moves to the next level and addresses the security concerns that, until now, have been absent from European port policy. It rightly focuses on risks linked to foreign ownership and ensuring that Member States can guarantee access and operational control. 

The real vulnerabilities are not only about who owns the terminals. They are about who controls them, who manages the data, and who supplies the software and hardware. China is a clear example of how these layers can create risk: it fuses commercial expansion with intelligence, coercion, espionage, sabotage, and even military logistics, showing how influence can extend far beyond formal ownership.

We must ensure our ports remain fully secure by preventing additional foreign ownership and excluding foreign actors from operational control. The risk of disruption to our imports and exports is too great; there is no time to lose.

At the same time, we are proud of what our ports contribute to Europe, and we want them to remain competitive. This does not mean turning our backs on investments. When properly screened, they can help modernise our ports and create jobs. The goal is not to shut ourselves off, but to ensure that openness never comes at the expense of our independence.

Europe's ports are the main entry point for energy carriers and critical raw materials and are central to our energy security. Every solar panel, wind turbine, and electric vehicle depends on materials that arrive by sea. Without them, the energy transition and independence cannot be guaranteed.  

Finally, it is vital to have an emergency brake now. If a foreign state uses its control of our ports to apply political pressure on Europe, governments must have a clear legal mechanism to take back control quickly. 

We have learned a brutal lesson from our dependence on Russian gas. Prices shot up. Families struggled to pay their heating bills. We cannot keep sleepwalking into the same traps. Our ports are the gates to Europe, so let’s stop giving the keys away.