EU Defence Industrial Policy and Strategic Autonomy: How to Square the Circle with NATO?

The European Union’s defence industrial policy must reconcile two objectives that may at first
sight appear contradictory. On the one hand, it must promote Europe’s strategic autonomy
by strengthening the continent’s military industry. But it is also supposed to strengthen the
Atlantic Alliance, which Europeans have no intention of calling into question, and to which
they remain deeply attached. Squaring the circle is not easy, since the autonomous ambitions
of the Europeans are essentially defined in relation to their main ally within NATO, the United
States.
How can the EU develop autonomous military-industrial capabilities while demonstrating to
its Anglo-Saxon allies that this should consolidate the transatlantic link? This paper analyses
the terms of this equation. In the final paragraph, it also attempts to identify possible
solutions.