ABSTRACT
Since the Cold War, Dutch governments have been convinced that NATO was the cornerstone of the Netherlands’ security and defence policy. A European Army or every move away from the strong ties with the US and the UK was fiercely rejected. Even when relations with the US were tense, the Netherlands upheld the “faithful ally” narrative. In the past couple of decades, the Netherlands were convinced that building European Union security and defence policy would lead to competition and the undermining of NATO. Slowly but surely, this image is changing. Recently, the Netherlands became a proponent of a stronger EU CSDP, since the Dutch believe it will also strengthen NATO. Furthermore, recently, the government stated that the EU must broaden its geopolitical capacities to act, which includes strengthening the foreign and security policy instruments that must be used more geopolitically: strategic autonomy plays an important role in a world of great power competition.
