TIAN Dewen：French-German Cooperation and the Future of EU Strategic Autonomy
China Watch Vol. 1, No. 4, November 2021, ISSN 2786-2860
French-German Cooperation and the Future of EU Strategic Autonomy
Tian Dewen
Deputy Director of the Institute of European Studies
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences
The EU’s “strategic autonomy” is not a concept with clear connotations. After the EU released its global strategy in 2016, “strategic autonomy” frequently appeared in official documents of the EU as well as France and Germany. Its core content is that the EU as a whole must maintain the independence of internal affairs and diplomacy, emphasizing that only by maintaining “strategic autonomy”, Europe can possibly continue to play a unique “leadership” on the international stage. Obviously, to achieve this goal, it is clear that Europe must be integrated.