ABSTRACT
The EU definitely has the means to be a power – if that is what it wants to be. This brings us back to the starting point: our belief that the EU must be an autonomous strategic actor. That implies the choice of a certain type of Union. An EU that is a mere market simply cannot be a grand strategic actor. This is Europe as a process: a platform for functional economic cooperation between sovereign states, which may continue to evolve in line with the technical needs of the internal market. Such a Europe does not constitute a pole of the multipolar world; it lacks the centre of gravity to be a strategic actor. But as argued above, if Europe wants to safeguard its interests vis-à-vis the other large strategic actors, it has no choice but to become one itself. That automatically entails the choice for Europe as a project: an ever deepening political union in which Member States pool sovereignty in order to pursue their common vision with maximum effect.
