Strategic autonomy

Strategic autonomy is defined as the ability of a state to pursue its national interests and adopt its preferred foreign policy without depending heavily on other foreign states.

In the European context, strategic autonomy is the ability of the European Union to not be overly reliant on the United States, to defend Europe and act militarily in its neighborhood, for the strategic purposes of affording a political autonomy independent from US foreign policies.

European Union
An early reference to strategic autonomy in the discussions of the European council of ministers can be dated back to December 2013. The European Council called for the development of European defense capabilities to enhance the strategic autonomy of the European Union.

In 2016, strategic autonomy became part of the European Union Global Strategy doctrine to improve the defense capabilities of the European Union, including the setting up of a European Defence Fund established in 2017. Strategic autonomy became central to the European Commission, led by Ursula von der Leyen, who stated her intention to have a “geopolitical commission.” Members of the Von der Leyen Commission, including Josep Borrell and Thierry Breton, claim that Europe's soft power needs to be complemented by a harder power dimension.

In the aftermath of the November 2020 defeat of Donald Trump, the concept of the European strategic autonomy was inspired by France, which advocated for this strategy at the European Union level. Strategic autonomy for the EU is a concept that includes economic, energy and digital policy, and initiatives such as GAIA-X. European Union Member States, such as Germany, display different preferences than France when it comes to the priorities of a strategic autonomy policy. Strategic autonomy expanded to digital policy of the European Union with an objective to ascertain European sovereignty against China.

Post-Trump era
As early as December 2020, strategic autonomy was a priority in European defense policy. This was professed by HRVP Josep Borrell, who saw Donald Trump as an unreliable partner in a retrospective speech. The goal of strategic autonomy is not to act alone militarily and the European Union can be characterized as non-interventionist in nature.

The election of Joe Biden in the United States brought expectations of a Euro-Atlantic unity to be reconciled with the strategic autonomy of the European Union. The New York Times saw the election of Joe Biden bringing discord between France and Germany over the future of European defense and strategic autonomy. In November 2021 the Biden administration urged the EU to develop its own credible military capabilities.

The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine was perceived by Emmanuel Macron as an attack on the institutions of the EU and a test of European strategic autonomy.

On 2 December 2022, Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said that Europe must strengthen its defenses because they are currently “not strong enough” to stand up to Russia's invasion of Ukraine alone, and have been relying on American support.

In April 2023, during an interview on a plane after a three-day state visit to China, Macron called for the EU to reduce its dependence on the US to attain European strategic autonomy away from Washington and avoid being drawn into a confrontation between the US and China over Taiwan. Macron had also advocated that Europe should become a "third superpower.” According to Macron, Europe should focus on boosting its own defense industries and on reducing dependence on the extraterritoriality of the US dollar.