President Emmanuel Macron of France is determined that the European Union embrace “strategic autonomy” — a policy that sees the EU set its own confident foreign policy course, regardless of what the United States, China, or Russia do.

But while Macron’s idea is winning tentative support from new German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, smaller EU and EU-periphery states are learning that EU “strategic autonomy” is more akin to “strategic autocracy.” Unwilling to take action to protect the interests of smaller European democracies, France and Germany are using high-minded theory to put the narrow interests of the few before the core interests of the many.