Global Getway Collection

Expert analyses from across the ETTG network to provide critical context and diverse perspectives on one of the EU’s most significant foreign policy initiatives in recent years.

In an evolving geopolitical landscape, the European Union is reshaping its approach to international engagement. Recent changes in EU leadership signal a significant shift towards a more assertive and strategic stance in foreign policy, particularly in the implementation of the Global Gateway initiative.

It stands at the forefront of this evolving strategy, representing a key tool in reshaping the EU’s global influence.

The EU’s Global Gateway initiative, launched in 2021, has taken on renewed significance in the current political climate and the mission letter sent by President von der Leyen to the designated Commissioner for International Partnerships. The Global Gateway aims to mobilise up to €300 billion in investments between 2021 and 2027. The stated goals of this ambitious program are to foster sustainable connections worldwide while promoting European values and interests.

Key Focus Areas of the Global Gateway

01

Strategic Autonomy

The EU is prioritising access to critical raw materials and new markets for European companies, emphasising economic resilience and reduced dependence on single suppliers.

03

Sustainable Development

While pursuing its economic and geopolitical interests, the EU remains committed to its sustainable development objectives, aiming to create a balance between these sometimes competing priorities.

02

Geopolitical Considerations

There's an apparent shift towards a more nuanced approach in relations with China and stronger ties with strategic partners, indicating a potential recalibration of EU partnerships.

04

Implementation Challenges

As the Global Gateway moves from concept to reality, questions arise about its practical implementation, funding mechanisms, and ability to compete with established initiatives.

By compiling expert analyses from across the ETTG network, we aim to provide critical context and diverse perspectives on one of the EU's most significant foreign policy initiatives in recent years.

These analyses serve as a vital resource for understanding:

The strategic implications of the EU's evolving approach to international partnerships

The potential impact of the Global Gateway on EU-China relations and global development

Opportunities and challenges in implementing the initiative across different regions

The balance between geopolitical interests and development cooperation objective

2024

Global Gateway: Where now and where to next?

San Bilal and Chloe Teevan propose steps to give the Global Gateway strategy greater strategic direction and to reconcile EU interests and development goals. They argue that the EU should adopt a whole-of-government/EU approach to foster coherence between strategic and development objectives, and…

2024

The Global Gateway at two: Implementing EU strategic ambitions

The Global Gateway, the EU’s global connectivity strategy, is two years old this week. Chloe Teevan and San Bilal look at how the strategy can make real progress towards operationalising a much-needed reorientation of EU international cooperation…

2024

ETTG Blog: The Global Gateway Three Years Later – An African Reality Check for the Next Commission

Paul Okumu is  Head of Secretariat at Africa Platform and also sits in the Steering Committee of the EU Global Gateway CSO Advisory Board. Daniele Fattibene is Coordinator of the European Think Tanks Group…
2024

The Global Gateway: juggling self-interest, geopolitical competition and developmental aspirations

Since its announcement in September 2021, the Global Gateway has gradually come to dominate the European Union (EU)’s external action and development policy discourse. First announced to the European Parliament in September 2021…

2024

European Green and Digital Transitions in the Global Gateway

The Global Gateway investment programme, launched in December 2021, aims to build
connections between Europe and the rest of the world by financing infrastructure
projects. The Global Gateway’s …

2023

Development impact in a geopolitical landscape: challenges and opportunities of Global Gateway

The aim of this brief is to explore the challenges and opportunities entailed in the Global Gateway initiative, partly designed as a response to China’s BRI in a geopolitical context. We also offer a series of recommendations in order to enhance…

2023

The EU Global Gateway – One year in: How to partner with the private sector?

The Global Gateway was launched with great fanfare a year ago, on 1 December 2021, by the European Commission and the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. It is presented as a positive offer by the European Union (EU) to…

2023

Euro–Mediterranean Economic Cooperation in the Age of Deglobalisation

The pandemic crisis and the war in Ukraine, with its far-reaching geopolitical implications, have shown substantial vulnerabilities in many global supply chains that revamped the debate on the future of globalisation and the potentialities and…
2023

Old wine in new bottles? China, the G7 and the new infrastructure geopolitics

Nearly a decade on, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has come to define China’s global development engagement. But as US and European relations with China deteriorate, the BRI – and infrastructure finance – have become focal points for geopolitical competition…

2023

Strategic Security and Critical Raw Materials: The Role of the European Investment Bank

A secure supply of critical raw materials (CRMs) is crucial for the realisation of the European Union’s energy transition. To increase domestic production and diversify imports of these materials, the European Commission published its proposal for…

2023

Development aid and geopolitics: the EU’s Global Gateway initiative

This Policy Paper analyses the EU’s Global Gateway initiative. Since this is a youthful programme still undergoing construction, the purpose of the exercise is to put forward recommendations for a design and execution…

2023

Global Gateway: what we know and what it means for Latin America and the Caribbean

In October 2023 Brussels hosted the inauguralGlobal Gateway Forum, a high-level conference devoted exclusively to the initiative of the same name and the first to be held since its launch two years ago…
2023

The Southernization of the EU’s Development Policy? A Critical Review of the EU Global Gateway

In December 2019, the newly elected European Commission (EU) President tasked one of her Commissioners to ensure that the EU’s approach to development cooperation would evolve in line with new global realities…

2023

The Global Gateway: it’s not the money, it’s the strategy

Global infrastructure strategies are essential on the frontlines of geopolitical competition. China launched its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) back in 2013 and the Biden-Harris Administration did so with its Build Back Better World (B3W) in June 2021. Therefore, it is welcome news that the EU has entered the game with the recently announced…
2022

Europe’s global gateway: a new geostrategic framework for development policy?

The proposal by the European Union (EU) to build a “Global Gateway” to the world is potentially an important juncture in EU foreign relations. Since its official launch in December 2021, most attention has been put on the initiative’s geo­strategic implications…

2022

The rise of the Team Europe approach in EU development cooperation: assessing a moving target

This paper analyses the European Union’s (EU) evolving motivations, priorities and current approaches to development cooperation under the label of “Team Europe”, following its introduction in April 2020 as the European Union’s…

2022

The European Union’s Global Gateway should reinforce but not replace its development policy

More than a year after its launch, the EU’s new global connectivity strategy is starting to take shape. Announced by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in September 2021, the initiative was baptised ‘Global Gateway’…
2022

The Global Gateway: A recipe for EU geopolitical relevance?

Chloe Teevan, San Bilal, Ennatu Domingo and Alfonso Medinilla argue that the Global Gateway – the EU’s new connectivity strategy – has the seeds of something new, but that it will need to overcome a number of challenges to be successful…
2022

The Global Gateway and the EU as a digital actor in Africa

The EU’s approach to digital in its external action is evolving, driven by a combination of global geopolitics and an externalisation of domestic policy priorities. ECDPM’s Chloe Teevan and Ennatu Domingo explore the EU’s changing approach and argue that the Global Gateway strategy has the ingredients…
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