European Strategic Autonomy: Views from Paris, Berlin, and Warsaw

Over the past year, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has spurred Europe to devote greater attention to its defense capabilities. Yet rather than providing momentum to Europe’s stated ambitions of strategic autonomy, the war has instead seemed to underscore its continued dependence on the US and NATO for defense. In this seemingly paradoxical moment, what future may lie in store for European strategic autonomy? Liana Fix, Tara Varma, and Justyna Gotkowska join Andrea Kendall-Taylor and Jim Townsend to discuss how Paris, Berlin, and Warsaw view the outlook for European strategic autonomy.

Liana Fix is a fellow for Europe at the Council on Foreign Relations. She is a historian and political scientist, with expertise in German and European foreign and security policy, European security, transatlantic relations, Russia, and Eastern Europe.

Justyna Gotkowska is the Deputy Director of the Centre for Eastern Studies based in Warsaw, Poland. Her work focuses on security and defense issues in Northern and Central Europe, including defense policies and armed forces’ developments in Germany as well as in the Nordic and Baltic states.

Tara Varma is a visiting fellow in the Center for the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution. She focuses on current French defense and security proposals in the European framework, as well as ongoing efforts to materialize European sovereignty in health, economics, climate, energy, and more traditional security fields.