The European Union in the press with the ‘strategic autonomy’ led by France

In the analyzes of the media and in diplomatic circles, the new declination of the ‘strategic autonomy’ of Europe presented by Macron during the visit to China and in the interview granted during the return trip to the publications Les Echos and Politico.eu is still destined to arouse many questions.

Apart from the general picture of the war in Ukraine and the Taiwan crisis, some specific aspects must be considered in the background to be taken as a reference for assessing the extent of the French president’s initiative.

The first concerns the modest role that the Chinese protocol attributed to whoever represented Europe at that time, the president of the Commission Ursula von der Leyen. This can be explained by the position it has long taken for the protection of the status quo on Taiwan which Xi Jinping intends to resolve with a definitive annexation. But certainly the recent caveats placed in Europe regarding economic cooperation with China also had a weight. The president of the Commission had highlighted that the EU has a complex relationship with China: the Union is the first destination for its exports, while Beijing is the third destination for European exports, but trade relations are not balanced.

The trade deficit of the EU has more than tripled in the last 10 years, and last year it reached almost 400 billion euros. Hence von der Leyen’s clarification to evaluate the approach in economic relations with China in terms of de-risking, taking into account to some extent the position matured by the United States on the so-called decoupling, a rigorous line aimed at limiting dependence on the Chinese economy, at least with reference to the supply chains of technologically relevant raw materials.