Spain will celebrate, in 2022, 40 years of its entry into NATO. And it will do so by hosting a summit in our country in which the alliance will discuss its (new) strategic concept. Spain’s commitment to this collective security structure is firm, as is its conviction about the need to strengthen its own security structure within the European Union. Far from what it might seem, these are not contradictory projects. We are speaking, in fact, of complementary conceptions that, in any case, it is pertinent to promote with cunning and diplomatic elegance. Only in this way can the result be perceived as harmonious and will not dynamite the trust that must always order the relationship between allies.
After the pandemic, the idea of gaining strategic autonomy is appearing naturally in national and European debates. It is a concept that some Union documents already contemplated, although they did not give it a clear meaning. This facilitated its development from two very different conceptions: that of those who saw in it an aspiration to strengthen the Union’s military capacity, and that of those who imagined it in terms of the ability to offer their own response to certain threats, not counting with other collective defense structures. The economic consequences that the pandemic has left on global value chains have, however, made it possible to broaden the traditional concept of strategic autonomy much further. Now the Union also intends to achieve under this umbrella a certain technological and industrial sovereignty that allows it not to be trapped in an unaffordable economic dependence.
As is well known, the complexity of the international context marked by an antagonism between the United States and China invites Europe to create new instruments that reinforce its power to operate as a global actor. The impulses that since the origins of European construction have been ambitious in defense matters now find a favorable context for their materialization under the idea of more strategic autonomy. To overcome the resistance that will inevitably appear along the way, the Union will need to have highly committed leaderships. It makes sense for Spain to look there for a space to gain relevance within the European power structure. Some evidence allows you to confirm that you are trying.
From this perspective, at least two decisions that position our country in the environment of those who promote progress in the matter should be analyzed. We refer, first of all, to the role that Spain played as a coordinating point for the arrival of refugees from Afghanistan. Secondly, Spain’s condition as the host country for that strategic meeting that NATO will hold next summer and which justified the recent visit to Spain of its Secretary General is also worthy of note. Spain’s determination to be more relevant on nuclear issues for the future of Europe is a political success. The area of strategic autonomy is undoubtedly one of those issues worth working on within the Union and also within NATO.
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