Not coming of age as a sovereign security and defence actor? How EU rhetoric meets reality

The idea of European strategic autonomy in security and defence informed the 1998 Saint Malo agreement as well as the launch of the EU’s first military operation overseas and the emergence of the EU Battlegroup concept 20 years ago, long before the concept achieved buzzword status when taking centre stage in the 2016 EU Global Strategy. Yet ever since, the EU has been struggling to mature into a serious sovereign security actor when facing violent conflict and other security challenges in its neighbourhood. As a result of the EU’s inability to project force even when confronted with the return of heavy warfare to Europe in February 2022, NATO and the United States are in the driver’s seat for the provision of European security. This paper explores the underlying reasons of why the EU’s rhetoric has not been matched by action and how the debate around strategic autonomy or sovereignty should be adapted. The EU as a security community tends to defy theoretical expectations, among others the proposition that exogenous shocks lead to turning points (Zeitenwende) in EU security and defence action. Drawing upon semi-structured interviews, policy documents and news reports in selected EU member states between 2016 and 2023, this paper argues that the maturation process has been hampered by significant endogenous challenges. This includes limited national autonomy in security and defence matters and the lack of a permissive consensus across EU members for autonomous EU crisis responses, extending beyond the East-West divide.