Description
Five years after the call for Strategic Autonomy in the 2016 EU Global Strategy, despite a worsening security environment in its neighbourhood and globally, shifting US interests and priorities, and Brexit leading to the loss of a major security and defence actor, progress has been very limited. There are still significant differences across EU member states about what strategic autonomy means for security and defence policy and how to achieve it. In security and defence policy the notion of strategic autonomy hollow without the appropriate military capabilities, structures, and financial resources. This leads directly into the three key questions this paper addresses. (1) What kind (if any) military capabilities does the EU need for the increasingly multidimensional and transboundary nature of the security challenges facing the EU? (2) Where does the EU seek to act? Is strategic autonomy regional or global? (3) Who does the EU wish to work with; which partnerships are enhanced by strategic autonomy? How each question is addressed will significantly shape the kind of capabilities and structures the EU will need for strategic autonomy in security and defence policy. The paper argues that strategic autonomy in security and defence needs to address the transboundary nature of threats facing the EU and the implications these have for the role of military capabilities.
