The quest for European autonomy and the risks of EU and NATO precarity

This article examines the growing precarity of the EU and NATO seen through the lens of security and defense. While Europe has long debated the need for greater strategic autonomy, recent crises and the U.S.’s partial disengagement from European security have intensified expectations for Europeans to assume more responsibility on security and defense. However, the collective European rights and resources within these existing organizations have not kept pace creating a paradox: as the EU and NATO have expanded their roles on matters related to European security, they have experienced increased precarity, failing to deliver on transformative resilience toward a more autonomous Europe. As the EU and NATO confront their ontological insecurities, precarity has deepened, undermining transformative resilience.