POLITYCZNE WYMIARY EUROPEJSKIEJ AUTONOMII STRATEGICZNEJ W KONTEKŚCIE RELACJI UNII EUROPEJSKIEJ Z INNYMI POTĘGAMI
Political Dimensions of European Strategic Autonomy in the Context of the European Union’s Relations with Other Powers

Summary/Abstract: The notion of European Strategic Autonomy has become well established in the dic-tionary of terms used by the European Union to address key challenges in Europeanexternal policy. Nevertheless, the term is still contested within the EU and the debateon this issue itself is widely considered ‘toxic’. The article aims to clarify the mean-ing of the idea of European Strategic Autonomy by presenting the main political con-texts within which it functions, which are distinguished by the criterion of referenceto Europe’s relations with the other powers in the international system: the UnitedStates, the People’s Republic of China, the Russian Federation, as well as in relation tothe other countries. The article argues that the context in which the notion of strategicautonomy is interpreted influences its perception and assessment making it difficult toadopt a fixed definition. Nevertheless, as the article points out based on empirical re-search, including interviews with officials of European Union institutions in Brussels,a consensus is gradually forming in the European Union as to the interpretation of thisconcept, which is beginning to play an active role in shaping the EU’s external policy.

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