On May 20, 2021 PanEuropa Bulgaria, together with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation held a one-of-a-kind dialogue – a conference on the strategic autonomy of the European Union and Bulgaria’s position in both the national and the wider continental context. In the conference’s initial segment 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗘𝗨 𝗔𝗨𝗧𝗢𝗡𝗢𝗠𝗬 𝗜𝗡 𝗦𝗘𝗖𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗬 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝗗𝗘𝗙𝗘𝗡𝗦𝗘 we reviewed the concept of European strategic autonomy through the prism of the economy, more concretely in terms of finding the balance between liberalization and protectionism, the EU’s role as the organ determining the rules surrounding multilateral trade system and increasing the Union’s competitiveness on the global markets. ___________________________________ The second segment of the conference 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗘𝗨 𝗢𝗣𝗘𝗡 𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗔𝗧𝗘𝗚𝗜𝗖 𝗔𝗨𝗧𝗢𝗡𝗢𝗠𝗬 was on the topic of strategic autonomy in relation to the security policy of the EU and Bulgaria, particularly vis-à-vis the development of the European defence industry and the cooperation between the Union and NATO in the military sphere.