Above the Fog and the Fury: EU Strategic Policy Planning and the EU’s Future in Times of Global Uncertainty

Abstract

Foreign policy is often dominated by the short term and dealing with urgencies at the expense of strategic planning. EU foreign policy is not immune to this risk. This begs the question of the EU’s ability to articulate strategic thinking and longer-term policy action in times of great uncertainty as caused by the Covid-19. Put simply, strategic planning and strategic foresight are disciplines that aim at identifying possible futures, mapping options and charting possible responses and strategic goals and as such support informed and sound policy-making. On that account, the EU has developed over time strategic policy frameworks for its foreign policy, such as the European Security Strategy in 2003 and the Global Strategy in 2016, that have served the Union rather well in navigating the global environment. The Covid-19 has come at a defining moment. Fraught with geopolitical stakes and global challenges, the EU’s ability to act strategically is being stress-tested on an unprecedented scale. Strengthening European strategic autonomy has emerged from policy planning work as the compass that can guide EU action through this period of geopolitical and global reshuffling. At the same time strengthening the Union’s strategic policy planning function and means has become a necessity to secure the effectiveness of external action. Foreign policy, Strategic planning, Climate changes, Covid-19, Strategic autonomy