Open Strategic Autonomy

The Challenge

International openness is a fundamental pillar of the European Union. Much of the social and economic progress achieved over the past decades would have been impossible without it.

Yet, it is undeniable that the advancement of globalisation, both in trade and capital flows, has also made the EU acquire several dependencies with third countries that, in recent years, have become serious threats for our citizens’ well-being. Global shocks like the Covid pandemic and the Russian military aggression against Ukraine disrupted the supply chains of medicines, microchips, energy and food, causing several shortages, inflationary crisis, and social damage.

European governments need to act swiftly and decisively to address these threats. Specially because there are strong reasons to believe that these vulnerabilities could worsen in the future, due to increasing geopolitical fragmentation, growing competition for some raw materials and technologies, and the impact of megatrends such as climate change.

The solution

The European Commission has suggested the concept of Open Strategic Autonomy as an interpretive key to address such risks and it has crafted important reports and policies to advance it, along with many Member States.