Hugo Meijer, CNRS Research Fellow at Sciences Po, Centre for International Studies said, at a hearing in the European Parliament on Tuesday 8 November, that the Security and Defence Policy, which is intergovernmental in nature, was “the area where there are the most challenges in achieving strategic autonomy”.
He explained to MEPs that there are two major obstacles to moving from great potential at national level to strategic autonomy at European level: strategic cacophony - regarding strategic priorities, which differ from country to country - and shortcomings in defence capacities. According to the researcher, these two barriers complement and reinforce each other.
“The potential (for strategic autonomy) is there, but these two obstacles must be overcome first”, he added. To overcome them, Mr Meijer highlighted four actions. Based on the risk analysis of the ‘Strategic Compass’, a document should be drawn up that defines the EU’s strategic priorities at regional and functional level. “Without a list with strategic priorities, we risk incoherence in external action, problems in terms of internal coordination and resource allocation”, he explained.
The researcher added that the level of ambition regarding the EU’s role in defence and deterrence in the short, medium and long term needed to be modulated. “We cannot have full sovereignty, strategic autonomy if defence is outsourced”, he warned, explaining that it was necessary to detach ourselves from the United States.
Mr Meijer also said that there was a need to improve centralised coordination and move to qualified majority voting in foreign and defence policy. For him, with the right of veto of each Member State, “the EU’s ability to act on the world stage is diminished”.
Susi Dennison, Director for ‘European Power’ at the European Council on Foreign Relations, presented her organisation’s study on strategic sovereignty, which found that, in terms of defence, capacities are lagging behind commitments. “France, Germany and Italy are at the forefront, which helps to inflate the final result, while 11 countries are lagging behind”, she explained, adding that the defence field was very dynamic and that the result could be very different in 12 or 24 months’ time.
According to the European Sovereignty Index, European sovereignty is “satisfactory” in the field of defence and some countries are close to realising their potential in contributing to European defence sovereignty while others are failing terribly.
See the report: https://aeur.eu/f/3yh (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)