NATO and the CSDP after the Ukraine War: The End of European Strategic Autonomy?

Abstract

The paper debates the impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on the relationship between the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union’s Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). It argues that the invasion has dramatically changed Europe’s security landscape, carrying major implications for both organizations and their relationship. After NATO’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021 and persisting frictions between the US and its European allies about burden-sharing, the war instilled a new sense of purpose into the Alliance, placing renewed emphasis on its core functions of territorial defence and deterrence. However, the war was also a reality check for the EU, raising important questions about the future of the European security architecture, the Union’s role within it, and its relationship with NATO (hereafter also referred to as the Alliance). The aim of this article is to try to answer some of these questions by providing an assessment of the impact of the war on the relationship between NATO and CSDP and to discuss potential avenues for strengthening the EU’s role in transatlantic security. More specifically, the paper will try to answer the following questions: what are the implications of the conflict on NATO and CSDP? How did the war impact the EU’s aspiration to strategic autonomy? Will the conflict trigger more effective burden-sharing within the Alliance as the US prepares for deepening systemic competition with China, or will it be another missed opportunity to strengthen the EU’s role in transatlantic security?.