THE EUROPEAN – SECURITY AND DEFENCE UNION
How NATO and the EU can reinforce each other
European strategic autonomy and a reinvigorated Atlantic Alliance
by Jean-Paul Paloméros, General (ret), former Supreme Commander Transformation NATO (Norfolk), Paris
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ot so long ago, discussing European strategic autonomy was considered by many as a non-starter. First and foremost because there was no consensus between EU members and therefore, they softened the language and, beating around the bush, used a more consensual approach by speaking diplomatically of EU sovereignty, without really defining what it meant. To paraphrase Albert Camus’ famous quote, today more than ever “to misname things is to add to the misfortunes of Europe”. Therefore, on the contrary, in the context of the recent Covid-19 pandemic and an even more major conflict in Ukraine, it’s time for the EU to set without delay its strategic autonomy as a common, crucial, and existential objective, whether to face Russia’s challenges in the present or shape Europe’s future security.
Autonomy doesn’t mean autarky To make it clear, there mustn’t be any misunderstanding: autonomy doesn’t mean autarky. It is for Europe to choose the dependency level it is prepared to accept in different key domains and to select reliable allies and partners ready to build this enduring strategic interdependency together. As far as European strategic autonomy is concerned, whatever perimeter one could consider to define it, it obviously involves defence and security almost as a prerequisite, at least as a major component, however certainly not the only one. To name the other main pillars of this strategic autonomy intimately linked with defence and security, energy comes at once, alongside digital transformation and cybersecurity, space, critical raw materials, omnipresent microprocessors, health, research, technology and innovation, industry, not forgetting skilled human resources. Consequently, the two main questions to be answered by EU Member States concern first and foremost their common will and ability to reach a suitable degree of strategic autonomy in those domains, and secondly the level of dependency they
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accept with selected allies and partners. In terms of defence and security, for more than seven decades, NATO has been the masterpiece of the European security architecture, able to stop Stalin’s USSR push to the west in the early fifties, to prevent the resurgence of major conflict with the USSR, then Russia, and to provide a stable and secure environment for EU development and prosperity. Today among NATO’s 30 members, 21 belong to the EU and see NATO as the ultimate watchkeeper of their collective defence. Therefore, at least in the medium term, any future European strategic autonomy should be coherent with the Atlantic Alliance’s commitment. Besides, as written in article 2 of the enduring North Atlantic 1949 treaty, member states “will seek to eliminate conflict in their international economic policies and will encourage economic collaboration between any or all of them”. It proves that the forward-looking founding fathers of NATO had perfectly understood that it was not possible to dissociate economy, defence and security. This is perfectly in line with
Jean-Paul Paloméros, Gen (ret) is a retired French Air Force General who qualified as a fighter pilot in 1976 and graduated from the UK Royal Air Force Staff College, Bracknell, in 1993. He acquired experience both as a fighter photo: private
pilot and commander in operations. General Paloméros led the French Air
Force’s Plans and Programme Division and served as Head of the Air Force from 2009 to 2012, before he was appointed by NATO as its Supreme Allied Commander Transformation in Norfolk, Virginia, where he served until 2015.
