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Europe’s strategic autonomy: A new political ambition?

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      Strategic autonomy is the result of a process of political and economic survival for Europe.

      Indeed, the major geopolitical, sanitary, and economic upheavals, in recent months have made us aware of the urgency to reduce Europe’s dependence and strengthen our resilience and competitiveness vis-à-vis the rest of the world. 

      Europe’s approach is based on the development of strong and integrated industrial ecosystems to accompany and accelerate the transition to green and digital economies. 

      Securing our economy also means guaranteeing the supply of critical resources: the production and use of hydrogen, batteries, semiconductors, healthcare products, data storage with the development of the cloud, and the strengthening of capacities in security, defense, and space – all of which is at the heart of the European strategy to strengthen its industrial autonomy.

      In order to reduce our dependence and boost our competitiveness, the EU has launched a new series of initiatives: projects of common European interest (IPCEI), alliances, and investment plans to shape a new growth model.

      To reinforce the EU’s leadership, the European Commission is putting in place a series of regulations to reconcile economic development and climate ambitions. Indeed, to guarantee investments in innovation and to develop new sectors such as environmental technologies, we need to set standards to lay the foundations for true technological sovereignty in Europe. We must also increase our efficiency in the use of resources and move towards a more circular economy. 

      The digital transition has accelerated during the pandemic period. 

      Today data is a crucial pillar of the European digital economy and will be the key to future innovation and economic growth.

      The digitalisation of our economy has dramatically transformed our environment and also created new risks. With a connected single market, the creation of a European cyber security system is an absolute necessity.  

      These challenges also lead us to intensify our efforts in the fields of defense and space.  Providing EU countries   with additional possibilities to enhance their technological, industrial, operational, and political capacities naturally feeds into the strengthening of their position internationally. It is also about preserving our access to space which has become essential for the functioning of our societies: “Without space sovereignty, there is no technological sovereignty,” said President Macron recently.

      In 2021, the first pillars of the construction of the European Health Union have been put in place with strong measures such as the strengthening of the capacities of the EMA, the ECDC and the creation of HERA to increase resilience to cross-border health threats.

      The pharmaceutical industry is indispensable and of critical importance for the European Union both in terms of innovation and economic recovery. The next revision of the pharmaceutical package aims to meet this challenge.  

      In this issue, the contributors will present their thoughts on critical and strategic industrial sectors. Europe must work to optimize its needs and secure its supplies. It must diversify its global resources by creating resilient value chains to guarantee more sustainable supply. In addition, it must invest heavily in critical technologies while building a strategic reserve. We have entered a new industrial era, where global value chains become geopolitical instruments. A political paradigm shift in Europe is needed: “There is no political sovereignty without technological sovereignty”.  

       

      Editor-in-Chief 

      Laurent ULMANN

      TABLE OF CONTENTS
        • It is time for Europe to build its strategic autonomy
          Agnès Pannier-Runacher, French Minister Delegate for industry
        • Resilience via Openness – Europe’s Unique Approach
          Valdis Dombrovskis, Executive Vice-President for An Economy that Works for People, European Commission
        • Boost Europe’s resilience: on a management of interdependence in global supply chains
          Thierry Breton, EU Commissioner for the Internal Market
        • Increasing Europe’s energy autonomy
          Kadri Simson, EU Commissioner for Energy
        • Strengthening Europe’s competitiveness and strategic autonomy
          Tytti Tuppurainen, Minister for European Affairs, Finland
        • The EIB enables strategic investment, and not just for Europe
          Werner Hoyer, President of EIB
        • Strengthening Europe’s Financial Stability
          Markus Ferber, MEP (EPP Group – Germany), vice-chair of Parliament’s Subcommittee on Tax Matters, Member of the ECON Committee
        • The EU to become more resilient and more dynamic to face both internal and external challenges
          Stéphane Séjourné, MEP (Renew Europe – France) Chair – Renew Europe Group, Member of the AIDA Committee
        • Going the Extra Mile to Turn Science into Reality for Patients in Europe
          Brendan O’Callaghan, Executive Vice President, Global Industrial Affairs, Sanofi 
        • Strengthening Europe’s capacity to anticipate and respond rapidly to cross-border health emergencies
          Pierre Delsaux, Director General to the European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (DG HERA), European Commission
        • The EU’s supportive role in managing public health crises and cross-border threats
          Sara Cerdas, MEP (S&D Group-Spain), Vice-Chair of special Committee on Beating Cancer, Member of the ENVI Committee 
        • Ensuring a robust and safe supply chain for pharmaceuticals in Europe
          Nathalie Colin-Oesterlé, MEP (EPP Group -France), Vice-Chair of Special Committee on Beating Cancer Member of the ENVI Committee 
        • Pharmaceutical sector – how to truly achieve strategic resilience
          Cristian-Silviu Busoï, MEP (EPP Group – Romania), Chair of the ITRE Committee
        • European Union needs reliable and secure access to health data to build strategic autonomy
          Markus Kalliola, Project Director, TEHDAS Coordinator, The Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra
        • For a pharmaceutical strategy promoting health security
          Dolors Montserrat, MEP (EPP Group, Spain), Member of the ENVI Committee, European Parliament
        • Reinforcing Europe as a centre for pharmaceutical innovation
          Alexander Natz, Secretary-General, European Confederation of Pharmaceutical Entrepreneurs (EUCOPE)
        • Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM): an effective climate measure
          Mohammed Chahim, MEP (S&D Group – NL), Member the ENVI Committee, Rapporteur for the CBAM – Fit For Package.
        • The EU owns resources for a climate-neutral European economy
          Valérie Hayer, MEP (Renew Europe-France), Member of the BUDG Committee
        • The role of Energy Agencies and the challenges of the energy transition
          Nelson Lage, President of ADENE- Portuguese Energy Agency /EnR Presidency for
        • Europe must invest in the critical raw materials sector to develop its own strategic autonomy and to re-industrialise key industrial ecosystems
          Bernd Schäfer, CEO of EIT RawMaterials
        • Responsible and innovative domestic lithium production will fuel Europe’s cars and the EU’s strategic autonomy
          David Archer, CEO of Savannah Resources
        • Generalizing the use of hydrogen in Europe to strengthen Europe’s energy autonomy
          Christian Ehler, MEP (EPP Group – Germany), EPP ITRE Coordinator
        • How small molecules support the EU strategic autonomy
          Laurent Dublanchet, AIR LIQUIDE, VP European & International affairs
        • Europe forges ahead with clean hydrogen
          Bart Biebuyck, Executive director of the Clean Hydrogen Joint Undertaking
        • Uranium conversion and enrichment activities: a highly strategic area for the European Union
          Jacques Peythieu, Orano Conversion & Enrichment CEO
        • How to decarbonise and regionalise lithium production in Europe
          Vincent Ledoux Pedailles, Vice President – Business Development, Vulcan Energy
        • The circular economy as a tool for European strategic autonomy
          Jean Hornain, CEO of CITEO
        • Lots of policy is still needed to secure investments in Europe’s green energy supply
          Morten Helveg Petersen, MEP (Renew Europe Group- Denmark), Vice-Chair ITRE Committee
        • The circular economy, a new economic model to strengthen European resilience and autonomy
          Sirpa Pietikäinen, MEP (EPP Group – Finland), Member of the ECON Committee
        • Industrial decarbonisation & strategic autonomy work together
          Alexandre Saubot, President, France Industrie
        • Extraordinary times call for… ordinary measures?
          François-Régis Mouton De Lostalot-Lassalle, Iogp, Regional Director Europe
        • Governing data: the ultimate frontier towards Europe’s digital transformation
          Pilar del Castillo, MEP (EPP Group – Spain), Chair of the European Internet Forum, Member of the ITRE Committee
        • Strengthen its industrial capabilities in the field of Critical Digital Infrastructures
          Roberto Viola, Director General for DG CNNECT, European Commission
        • The EU digital transition requires a high level of cybersecurity to be successful
          Hugues Foulon, CEO of Orange Cyberdefense, Director of Strategy and of cybersecurity activities of the Orange Group
        • Ensuring the digital transition between EU territories as well as in its transnational dimension
          Dita Charanzova, MEP (Renew Europe Group- Czech), VP of European Parliament, Member of the IMCO Committee
        • The European Semiconductor Renaissance
          Cecilia Bonefeld-Dahl, Director-General of DIGITALEUROPE
        • IV. For a European strategic autonomy of defense and space
        • Strategic autonomy and security of supply in European Defence
          Michael Gahler, MEP (EPP Group – Germany) Member of the SEDE Committee
        • EU strategic autonomy: from concept to action
          Jiří Šedivý, Chief Executive of the European Defence Agency (EDA)
        • Why the European Defence Fund marks the Union’s age of reason
          Dominique Riquet, MEP (Renew Europe – France), Member of the TRAN Committee
        • Cooperation, Cooperation, Cooperation
          Admiral Matteo Bisceglia, Director of OCCAR
        • Europe needs to invest fresh money in new space technologies
          Marian-Jean Marinescu, MEP (EPP Group – Romania), Member of the TRAN Committee, Chair of Sky and Space Intergroup
        • European human spaceflight: The next step in our European Access to space?
          Christophe Grudler, Member of the European Parliament Vice-Coordinator Renew Europe for the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) – Substitute member of the Committee on Security and Defence – Vice-President of the Sky & Space Intergroup
        • Space is a vital component of any drive towards EU strategic autonomy
          Stéphane Israël, CEO of Arianespace 
        • EU space policy and the European space industry play a vital role in the EU and its economy
          Massimiliano Salini, MEP (EPP Group – Italy), Member of the TRAN and INTA Committee’s