EU-NATO cooperation reloaded: the impact of European strategic autonomy

Renewed debates on European strategic autonomy and closer EU-NATO cooperation fall into a time of great power rivalry, a changing threat landscape, and growing complexity that require coordinated responses. External shocks such as Russia’s increasing aggression and the annexation of Crimea in 2014 as well as internal dynamics, including Brexit and Trump’s “America First” policy, have triggered both the EU’s quest for strategic autonomy with the introduction of its comprehensive defence package and closer EU-NATO cooperation. Yet, while these parallel developments have for long been seen as contradictory, partly because the emergence of strategic autonomy within the EU has initially been perceived with suspicion from both NATO and the US, this article argues that European strategic autonomy has in fact served as an enabler for enhanced security cooperation in Europe as it allows for a more equal partnership based on shared responsibilities.