By Jia Pingfan

Recently, French President Emmanuel Macron has repeatedly reiterated European strategic autonomy on different occasions, which aroused brought discussions in the media.

Since Macron took office, France's foreign policy priorities have always included promoting European strategic autonomy and promoting European integration. France's concept of European strategic autonomy draws on the core concept of French diplomacy after World War II--Gaullism. Gaulleism aims to restore France's status as a world power in international affairs and avoid becoming a vassal of the US. In April 2023, Macron called on Europe not to follow the US strategically, but to become the "third pole" with strategic autonomy.

"For a long time, France has had a strong sense of independence in Europe and in the entire Western world," said Cui Hongjian, director of the Department for European Studies at the China Institute of International Studies. Cui said that France's active promotion of European strategic autonomy also reflects its commitment to the future direction of Europe. France believes that only by continuously strengthening European strategic autonomy can the consensus of European countries be consolidated, and the process of European integration be better promoted.

From the Declaration on Strengthening the Common European Policy on Security and Defense issued by the Cologne Summit in June 1999 to the official launch of the A Strategic Compass for Security and Defense in March 2022, Europe has been on the road to security and defense strategic autonomy for more than 20 years.

Europe had made substantial progress in its strategic autonomy in areas such as defense, energy, and the economy before the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The Russia-Ukraine conflict disrupted Europe's original rhythm of achieving strategic autonomy.

After the Russia-Ukraine conflict, NATO carried out the largest defense rectification since the end of the Cold War, and the US sent more than 100,000 troops to the European continent, according to Reuters. The website of the French newspaper Le Figaro reported that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine has caused a major setback to European strategic autonomy. The US provided 25 billion euros in military aid to Ukraine, which inadvertently snapped off the nascent wings of the European defense.

Some analysts believe that external shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict have exposed Europe's vulnerabilities in the fields of defense, energy, supply chain, and digitalization, and their willingness to develop all-around strategic autonomy is more urgent.

"Macron's recent mention of strategic autonomy aims to have Europeans pay more attention to this issue," Cui said. European countries represented by France believe that the current security dilemma in Europe further confirms the necessity and correctness of the goal of strategic autonomy, said Cui.

Chen Yang, deputy director of Institute of European Studies at China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR), said that a series of moves by the US is also a major motivation for Macron to revisit European strategic autonomy. The US has been distributing self-interested subsidies indiscriminately for a long time, and its banking crisis has emerged. As its new round of elections approaches, the unreliable attribute of the US is becoming more and more obvious. Macron has repeatedly emphasized the importance of European strategic autonomy as he is worried that the impact of the US industrial policy and the security binding between the US and Europe will make Europe further lose its strategic competitiveness and international discourse power, and as a result, Europe will gradually become a vassal of the US.

Discussions about strategic autonomy in Europe are becoming more and more heated, while the anxiety of the US and NATO becoming more and more undisguised. Some American media commented that Europe's calls for strengthening strategic autonomy have brought problems to US-EU relations and undermined the West's unity. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg responded that there is a need of more strength rather than a new structure to compete for strength, mocking that France is competing for European defense leadership.

Experts point out that against the background of intensified security challenges, the EU security strategy is drifting away from its goal of "defense autonomy".

"The advancement of European strategic autonomy has had some negative impacts on France's foreign relations," Cui said. First, France has attracted criticism in Europe for being considered selfish. Second, the power relationship between France and Germany is more complicated and delicate. It is difficult for France to obtain the support of Germany. Third, France will bear enormous pressure from the US, as well as pressure from pro-American countries in Europe. In the future, France still needs to overcome many internal and external obstacles when promoting the related agenda of European strategic autonomy.

Editor's note: Originally published on the people.com.cn, this article is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information and opinions in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.