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European strategic autonomy

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Europe is faced with a degradation of its security environment, which affects all of the neighboring regional theaters and occurs along the entire conflict spectrum (Russian strategic resurgence, instability and civil wars around the Mediterranean Sea, changing patterns of jihadist terrorism, etc.), and with a growing uncertainty regarding the future commitment to European security of two critical allies, the United States and the United Kingdom. In this context, the European strategic autonomy program established within Ifri’s Security Studies Center provides analytical support to the renewed European interest for defense, and to the attainment of the goal of strategic autonomy, as identified in the EU’s Global Strategy.

Its aims are:

  • to provide substance to the concept of “European strategic autonomy” while contributing to the emergence of a European strategic thought on the use of force in the 21st century;
  • to add to the ongoing debate on the degree of ambition for European countries in terms of strategic autonomy;
  • to assess the capacity, in Europe, to generate military power, now and up to 2030-2040;
  • to come up with a comprehensive overview of the existing capacities as well as the lacking areas, as of today and until 2030-2040 (trends, areas and degrees of dependence, etc.);
  • to provide recommendations on key lines of effort, in terms of defense investment, operational and industrial cooperation as well as capability development.
Amélie ZIMA

Research Fellow, Head of European and Transatlantic Security Program, Security Studies Center

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Elie TENENBAUM

Research Fellow, Director of Ifri's Security Studies Center

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29/10/2018

The return of more conflictual relations between Russia and the West following Russia’s intervention in Eastern Ukraine and its annexation of Crimea has led to a deterioration in the strategic environment for Northern European countries, particularly in the Baltic Sea Region and the Arctic.

24/07/2018

The 1970s were a decade of anti-war movements. Willy Brandt received the Nobel Peace Prize for his détente policy toward the Eastern Bloc – and West German defense spending peaked at 3.13 percent of GDP in 1975. Clearly, those days are long gone.

12/04/2018

In 2016, the European Union issued its Global Strategy, the Union’s latest foreign and security policy strategy document. The strategy “nurtures the ambition of strategic autonomy for the European Union”. American policymakers’ feelings about these aspirations are, to say the least,...

16/02/2018
By: Corentin BRUSTLEIN, James DOBBINS, Dalia DASSA, Olivier MEIER, Marco OVERHAUS, Neil QUILLIAM, Charles RIES, Dorothée SCHMID, Sanam VAKIL, Azadeh ZAMIRIRAD

Transatlantic differences over the future of the Iran nuclear deal – or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) of July 2015 – are damaging a nuclear accord that all parties, except the United States, see as delivering on its purpose. They also increase the risk of Washington and...

13/12/2017

How can France and Germany contribute to reaching the goal of European strategic autonomy? This key question has been guiding the work with the present report. In the light of a more demanding security environment, but also a rare momentum for further European integration, Berlin and...

01/12/2016
By: Dmitri TRENIN

Current hostilities between the United States, NATO and Russia, though they might not be at Cold War levels, do indicate real danger. NATO’s continued expansion toward the east and the deployment of defensive American antimissiles in Europe constitute serious strategic problems for Moscow.

06/07/2016
By: Shany MOR

What is the proper place and forum for decisions about war and peace in a democracy? There is surprisingly little consensus on this matter, not in theory and not in practice. While in Iraq, Libya and Syria, all Western actions have ended in failure, it seems necessary to analyze the place and...

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