Broadening of the Notion of the European Strategic Autonomy

The rise of new superpowers, ambiguous global leadership of the United States, increasingly hybrid character of threats and the accelerating technological revolution present new challenges to the concept of the European Strategic Autonomy (EAS). Emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, cybersecurity, quantum computing or 5G networks and the Internet of Things are being increasingly perceived to alter the global balance of power, as exemplified by the ongoing technological rivalry between the United States and the People’s Republic of China. This paper aims to re-conceptualize the notion of EAS with emphasis on the role of technology. It reconstructs how the notion of EAS is being progressively presented by policymakers and scholars (i.e. Timmers : 2019). It analyses the three key dimensions of strategic autonomy: operational, industrial and technological. It looks at major advancements in the Common Security and Defence Policy that increasingly invoke EAS as a strategic goal for the EU. It presents how the concept of EAS is evolving within these utterances and how it targets new policy areas that are being recognized as strategic domains with critical significance for the Union and the security and wellbeing of its citizens. To this end, it is based on qualitative content analysis, of key strategic documents produced by EU's institutions and agencies dealing with programming of EU's policies. The notion of European Strategic Autonomy has been present within the Common Defence and Security Policy since it's foundation during the Saint-Malo summit in 1998. In the years 1999-2003 it was understood as primarily operational capabilities and this understanding has been implemented both in the Berlin Plus framework, as well as, the European Headline Goal. However, since the foundation of the European Defence Agency (EDA) in 2004, the notion of European Strategic Autonomy has been supplemented with new dimension – industrial autonomy. Along with this broadening a third dimension of autonomy has been acknowledged – one embedded in control of strategic technologies. This broadened understanding of EAS was later enhanced by the unprecedented actions that have been undertaken by the EU institutions since late 2013 - primarily by the European Commission, European Council and the EDA. Since December 2013 Council Conclusions, the concept of the development of the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base (EDTIB) has become increasingly linked with the efforts towards European Strategic Autonomy, as exemplified in the European Defence Action Plan (2016), European Defence Fund (2017) and the Permanent Structured Cooperation (2017). Furthermore, recent debates about the meaning and consequences of new emerging technologies, such as 5G or AI, are being increasingly linked with the notion of strategic autonomy, strengthening the technological dimension of the concept of EAS.