Charting the Strategic Autonomy of the EU

This brief explores the European Union’s strategic autonomy and examines its role in light of the USA-China rivalry.

We seek to answer the question of how the EU’s pursuit of independence evolved over the years in response to the great-power competition and multipolar world.

We conclude that the Union’s goal of autonomy has been substantially accelerated by numerous crises and global events; however, it remains fairly limited in most policy areas.