What ways and means for a real strategic autonomy of the EU in the economic field?

The EU has always strenuously promoted economic integration with the rest of the world. In a peaceful world governed by a rules-based system, this strategy made Europe not only one of the most important global trading powers but also one of the most prosperous regions. The Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent Russian invasion of Ukraine have fundamentally altered the dynamics of openness and economic integration and foreshadowed a long-term uphill struggle to preserve the EU’s prosperity. These disruptive events have underscored the need for the EU to enhance its resilience and ability to safeguard its strategic interests effectively. Already in 2020, alongside the Green Deal, the von der Leyen Commission proposed an EU industrial strategy that would support the EU’s ‘geopolitical’ role through strategic autonomy. As the EU is gearing up to respond to challenges that could signal a tectonic shift from the multilateral rules-based trading system that has been the hallmark of the post-World War II era, the EU can ill afford to be vague about what strategic autonomy means.