UNDERSTANDING STRATEGIC SOVEREIGNTY 2 UNDERSTANDING STRATEGIC SOVEREIGNTY When examining Europe's ability to engage on an equal footing with other actors in the international system, much consideration is afforded to the notion of»strategic sovereignty«. But is there a common understanding of this concept and the ideas that stand behind it at EU level? In Brussels, the idea of European strategic sovereignty or autonomy emerged as early as 2016. An increasingly divided and dysfunctional multilateral system, great powers' protectionist tendencies and assertiveness, with not least the COVID-19 pandemic wreaking havoc throughout the entire world since early 2020 – all this creates an environment fuelling Europe's growing desire to cooperate and coordinate with partners, but also to have the power to operate independently whenever necessary. These are far from normal times, hence, far from normal measures are needed. scholars of international relations have struggled to define, differentiate, and conceptualise. Ironically, more emphasis has been placed by political voices on what strategic autonomy does not mean rather than what it actually does mean, with officials underscoring that this does not represent autarky, protectionism or self-reliance, albeit offering little insight when it comes to a widely accepted definition. In September 2020, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, delineated in his speech to the Bruegel think­tank what the defining elements of Europe's strategic autonomy would be ³. In this paper, instead of analysing the conceptual differences between terms such as autonomy, sovereignty, independence, empowerment, we simply accept Charles Michel's statement that»whichever word you use, it's the substance that counts«. To be more precise, Europe is compelled to reassess the changing global context, which means taking into account the fact that China is no longer merely an economic player, but a rising global power and an indispensable actor; that the US has been trending more towards unilateralism and protectionism in recent years, putting a strain on Europe's most reliable system of alliances; that Russia's aggression and its malign influence, not least through subversive actions and targeted disinformation campaigns, continue to greatly affect especially Europe's Eastern Neighbourhood; that relations with Turkey have reached a low point, especially at the present juncture, when the security situation in the Mediterranean, Europe's Southern Neighbourhood, is deteriorating; not to mention the Brexit conundrum, the sudden proliferation of trade wars, the rising challenge of reigning in the new tech companies whose business models and social platforms are being used by enemies to destabilise Europe's democracies, help spread disinformation and undermine personal data protection, not to mention the pressing problem of climate change. Despite its timeliness, strategic sovereignty has always been a somewhat hazy concept, oftentimes used interchangeably with strategic autonomy, as many pundits on European affairs and This substance, according to Michel, revolves around three main objectives that the EU needs to pursue: stability, propagation of European standards, and promotion of European values. With regard to the objective of stability, Charles Michel addresses several types of security, more specifically physical, environmental, economic, social, and digital security. Without a doubt, these are all important aspects, but the one where Western European perceptions differ most from Eastern European ones involves concerns over physical security and defence, as this is being challenged most strikingly in Europe's Eastern and Southern Neighbourhoods. 2.1 SECURING STABILITY TO THE EAST AND SOUTH To the East, the protracted conflict in Eastern Ukraine with deadly flare-ups on an ongoing basis, the frozen conflict in Transnistria, as well as ferment in the Abkhazia and South Ossetia regions, coupled with Russian assertiveness in Belarus, are a few of the most salient reasons why states in Eastern Europe are deeply concerned when it comes to Russia. In fact, in their National Defence Strategies more and more countries have cited Russian aggression as one of their main security concerns. To take one example, Poland's new National Security Strategy clearly states that the main threat is the»neo-imperial policy of the government of the Russian Federation«, thereby using much blunter language than in the past ⁴. Romania's new National