Daniel Fiott

Strategic autonomy. Two familiar words that are yet again in vogue in Europe but which cause confusion and, in some quarters, even alarm. This Brief compares the range of defence initiatives that have been developed by the EU since 2016 against three different conceptual visions of strategic autonomy: autonomy as responsibility, autonomy as hedging and autonomy as emancipation.

This Study analyses the armaments standardisation approaches of the EU and NATO and it provides an overview of policy initiatives in the domains of maritime information sharing and remotely piloted aircraft systems.

This Brief looks at the EU’s Capability Development Plan (CDP) and argues that it might be seen as the glue that can enhance coherence between other defence initiatives. What defence capabilities could the EU collectively prioritise now and in the future in a context of finite financial resources and rapidly evolving strategic and technology trends?

Featuring a range of data and illustrations that relate to various aspects of EU security and defence, this EUISS leaflet is a contribution to the broader #EUdefence campaign being conducted by the European External Action Service (EEAS).