Author: Hedwig Giusto, editor-in-chief of The Progressive Post and senior policy advisor of the European Foundation for Progress Research (FEPS)
For the past year and a half, we have been holding our breath and trying to overcome the worst health crisis of the last century-focusing on the number of infectious diseases, the dose of vaccines and vaccine variants-the geopolitical crisis may affect the world and Europe The stability of the company continues to unfold. And each of them has the ability to ruthlessly expose the limitations of the EU’s credibility as a geopolitical participant, even the most die-hard fans of European projects.
The U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Taliban’s return to power, and the subsequent humanitarian emergency. The crisis on the EU-Belarus border shows that Russia’s influence in the country is increasing, and it is another humanitarian crisis. Intensified competition between the United States and China has the potential to strangle the European Union between its most important old ally and China’s rising power. These are just a few of the international developments that once again put Europe in the face of a profoundly changing global order reality. A global order in which Europeans can no longer rely solely on an increasingly reluctant, unpredictable, and sometimes ambiguous transatlantic partner for defensive purposes. But the EU has so far failed to make adjustments to this.
A recipe for an EU that can meet current and future global challenges has been drafted. Strategic autonomy When the existing alliance does not meet the challenge and/or does not meet the interests and values of Europe, the EU should be provided with tools to act independently on the global stageHowever, finding the right balance between the different ingredients of this ambitious recipe is still complicated. Many “chefs” have participated in turning recipes into balanced dishes, and they have different views on what strategic autonomy should ultimately look like, the degree of autonomy that the EU should manage, and even the expectations of such autonomy.
In addition, any argument for or against strategic autonomy—and all the nuances between the two—will touch the relationship with the United States in some way. EU member states are actually hesitant, to say the least, to abandon their comfortable status as beneficiaries of US security provisions, or—more precisely—to increase their efforts to ensure their own safety, even though many people are aware of this. The appeals of the past decade, the increasing pressure from the United States, and evidence that the interests and goals of the United States and the European Union are not always consistent.
In fact, after Trump’s years of contempt for multilateralism, European leaders’ expectations of the Biden administration, even if they were moderate, are disappointing. In the future, Europe will have to deal with the fact that it is consistent with the United States on international issues. If it wants to be loyal to its own interests and values, the EU will have to act more and more autonomously.
Therefore, strategic autonomy does not mean that the EU will become a “lone ranger.” On the contrary, it means that it is necessary to calibrate the dependence and autonomy of different partnerships in accordance with the issues, values and interests involved, so that the EU can formulate and implement its own foreign policy. To this end, gain credibility on the international stage and take effective action, It is important for the EU to speak with a single voice. It’s that simple, but it’s so difficult.
After recent international developments, given the urgent need for the European Union to reorganize its approach to the changing global order and its commitment to multilateralism, Question No. 17 Progress post Committed to its special coverage Strategic autonomy: challenges and pitfalls And its files ME-I: I don’t love anymore These key themes, the risks of wrong strategic autonomy, and the opportunities that the current global situation provides for a qualitative leap in European integration.This new issue of the magazine also covers another recent-unfortunately-largely disappointing multilateral commitment, namely the COP26 held in Glasgow last month, which is the focus center of La la fuck.
Last but not least, turn your attention to more domestic issues, in the archives The discomfort of the East and the gradual way out, “Progress Post” focused on the bleak situation of the Progressive Party in Central and Eastern Europe. It urgently needs a real revival, but it is not impossible.
This is the rich discount offered by the Progressive Post, the flagship magazine of the European Foundation for Progressive Research (FEPS), to its readers in the difficult final issue of 2021.
* Also in terms of European strategic autonomy, FEPS recently launched A new research project It aims to provide in-depth analysis and formulate a concrete but ambitious policy agenda. High-level policy experts will provide actionable advice from three perspectives: security and defense, economy and trade, and digital and technology.
