Geopolitical Europe Pulse: European strategic autonomy - dream or reality?
10 May 2024
The Geopolitical Europe Pulse is a compilation of articles and resources on a specific topic of current affairs with particular relevance for Europe’s, and the EU’s, role in the world.
One of the most famous quotes from the Schuman Declaration, presented on 9 May 1950, was that "Europe will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan. It will be built through concrete achievements which first create a de facto solidarity." The same applies arguably, at least partially, to the EU’s role as a player in the world. One day after Europe Day (9 May), this week’s edition brings you a roundup of content on the evolution of the EU as a geopolitical actor in recent years, European strategic autonomy, and current challenges to achieve the ambitions.
Is there such a thing as European strategic autonomy? Yes, argues Tara Varma, Visiting Fellow at Brookings Institution, in the article “European Strategic Autonomy: The Path to a Geopolitical Europe”. Since the Covid-19 pandemic, Europeans have increasingly stepped up their tools to respond to global challenges, and the Ukraine war has been a catalyst for this endeavour.
Geopolitics via geoeconomics: Similarly, the EU increasingly leverages its economic toolkit to address geopolitical challenges, either through existing measures (sanctions…) or through designing new instruments (e.g. anti-coercion instrument). Sarah Bauerle Danzman and Sophie Meunier provide a deep-dive into this topic in their article “The EU’s Geoeconomic Turn: From Laggard to Institutional Innovator”.
Strategic autonomy is also about the money: defence, the green transition, economic competitiveness — addressing all these challenges will require significant spending from the EU, and the political will to do so. Max Bergmann and Federico Steinberg outline what’s at stake and how the EU could address its financial challenges in this piece.
ICYMI - strategic responsibility: From “strategic autonomy” to “European sovereignty” and now “strategic responsibility” (to name just a few of the buzzwords of the last years) real quick — the latter was just referred to in the recent blog post by EU High Representative Borrell in his latest blog post for Europe Day, where he calls for a paradigm shift. Read it here.
Friday livestream: The EU’s geopolitical balancing act — US-China competition. While US-China competition is a shaping factor for the global order, Europeans, and with them the EU, still struggle to define their strategy in this context. On Friday, 10 May, I will be joining Dr. Lokman Karadag for a Youtube Livestream on the EU’s balancing act in US-China competition.