International Conference on European Integration 2022 Ostrava, Czech Republic Copyright © 2021–2022 by VSB - Technical University of Ostrava EU STRATEGIC AUTONOMY - A RETURN TO THE ROOTS? SI VIS PACEM, PARA BELLUM. IF YOU WANT PEACE, PREPARE FOR WAR. Irah Kučerová Charles University Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Political Studies, Department of International Relations Pekařská 16, 158 00 Praha 5-Nové Butovice Czech Republic irah.kucerova@fsv.cuni.cz ORCID iD: 0000-0001-7256-6204 Abstract After half a century of liberalization trends, in contrast to the onset of economic globalization intensifying the outsourcing of all less lucrative activities to less developed regions, the EU is turning back to ensure the production of strategic commodities. Intended strategic autonomy in the sense of strengthening resilience to external influences should lead to a reduction in import dependence, to an increase in the EU's negotiating position in international relations - overall to an increase in the EU's strategic potential as an international actor. Ensuring macroeconomic and social stability within the EU is clearly a key motive. Strategic autonomy extends from the originally military dimension to technological, production, trade, but also diplomatic. In that case, however, it is necessary to define the content of strategic autonomy - what areas of integration it covers. The resulting strategic autonomy must be based on the specific institutional setting of the individual actors, then there is a clear limitation of their strategic culture. Keywords: EU, key sectors, resistance, strategic autonomy, strategic culture JEL Classification: F52, F62, O14, O24 1. Introduction The world, the world economy has interacted with increasing intensity since the mid-19th century. This is caused and exacerbated by technological shifts, the acceleration of the development of the world's core performance, to which Europe unquestionably belongs. The EU, as a slice of Europe, is the leader of the integration process leading to the creation of the internal market, not only removing national borders for the so-called four freedoms, but in real progressing homogenization of markets. Basic economic laws such as profit maximization while minimizing costs, realization of revenues from the scale of up to half a billion-consumer market, support of science and research - all leading to growing competitiveness of European companies have also been accompanied by so-called optimization of production and its costs. The result was a strong outsourcing of less lucrative production with a lower share of added value. It has been somewhat forgotten that even these commodities can be crucial to ensuring stability. What used to be the standard before, a certain degree of self-sufficiency, after WWII. it began to be perceived not only as an inefficiency but also as an obstacle to the peaceful ordering of international relations. After all, the idea of European integration promoted by Robert