Pursuing sustainability transitions and open strategic autonomy. A policy mix perspective on synergies and trade offs

With this concept paper we aim to stimulate discussions on how the new policy objective of open strategic autonomy (OSA) should be fitted together with the existing objective of achieving just sustainability transitions (ST) – and what the practical means are to pursue these dual policy objectives more effectively together. Both OSA and ST are vital for the future of Europe and require profound and rapid structural changes. Hence, recognising synergies and trade-offs between the two and seeking ways to align them is important. We do so by drawing both from academic literature and recent EU policy developments to examine these objectives and their interconnections. We start by introducing the conceptualisation and challenges around OSA and related terms, followed by explaining policy mix thinking in transition studies and recent attention to policy intervention points and transformative outcomes. We then deliberate how OSA should be addressed in the context of public policy influencing ST by integrating it as an additional policy objective into the transition policy mix – a mix that requires coordination across multiple policy fields. We discuss how security policy, green industrial policy and trade policy generate connections between ST and OSA.