Why Europe Will Always Struggle With ‘Strategic Autonomy’

Decades of underinvestment and countries having disparate interests are two major reasons.

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This week, the European Union’s leaders discussed a draft plan for the “Rapid Deployment Capacity,” a 5,000-strong EU military force, to be used by the bloc in crisis situations from 2025 onward.

The proposal, set for final approval in March, appears to be another step in the direction of what France’s President Emmanuel Macron likes to call Europe’s “strategic autonomy.” Back in 2008 the Lisbon Treaty led to the creation of the European External Action Service, the EU’s diplomatic and foreign affairs body, alongside the position of a high representative for foreign affairs and security policy—the EU’s foreign minister.

The calls for such autonomy are not new. Donald Trump regularly called on Europeans to “pay their share.” Similarly, Germany’s departing Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged Europeans to take “[their] fate into [their] own hands.” Even the Biden administration’s key strategic decisions—the AUKUS deal or the unilateral withdrawal from Afghanistan, for example—underscore that the United States will not care about Europe’s interests more than Europeans themselves.

The efforts to give Europe a strong voice on the global stage have long suffered from the quintessentially European problem of elevating form and process over substance, and the latest proposal is no exception. 

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  1. Avatar photo
    Ben Connelly

    The project of a United Europe under one flag - a single European nation - remains an illusion.

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  2. Egal.Fabrice

    Yeah, that intervention is purely symbolic. 5,000 men for fast deployment? If Putin invade the Baltic states, he can send as many *tanks* on day 1.

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  3. Avatar photo
    MarqueG68

    The Europeans--the western leadership of the EU--have long been in denial that their military/defensive weakness is both apparent and seductive. The Germans in particular believe that when the scheiß hits the fan, hostile powers can be led around by German pursestrings.

    Secondly, the idea of an EU-led military is a joke, since there is no sense (often heard in cosmopolitan German circles) that "We are Europeans first, not X-countrymen!" has any truth to it that extends so far as protecting common EU borders against external threats. Germans feel a heckuva lot less like their European brethren in Estonia, for example, if Russia threatens to invade that joint. They feel a lot more like Germans, with Estonia being quite foreign and comfortably very far away!

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  4. Pohl

    I tend to think of the EU like Jacques Maritain thought of world government. It may be a good idea, but it may also be hundreds of years ahead of its time. Probably not that long for a strong EU, but it’s premature to talk about a large, common defense. Baby steps, like this rapid deployment force, make sense, I guess.

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  5. Avatar photo
    Frank Lee

    Munching on crumpets and drinking wine on a 30-hour a week job with retirement at 60 sounds fab until you run out of other people's money.

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