Publications

Lessons from China’s Belt and Road Initiative: Strategic Pathways for the EU’s Global Gateway

Jacob Mardell

Over a decade since its launch, China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) remains widely misunderstood. This report cuts through the noise: the BRI is less a grand strategy, more a decentralised, narrative-driven vehicle for advancing Chinese interests. The report asks what the EU can learn—and what it should avoid—as it shapes its own Global Gateway.

The EU and its global partners in a new legislative period

Leveraging its power or struggling to deliver?

When it comes to the relations with its global partners, the re-elected Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has formulated high ambitions: the goal is to “leverage” the EU’s “power and partnerships”. When in 2019 she dubbed her first commission as a “geopolitical” one, this appeared as a bold and – for some – controversial choice of words. With two major conflicts in the EU’s immediate neighborhood and an increasingly fragile global environment, strengthening ties with global partners seems no longer to be a choice, but a vital necessity of the EU. While the EU is only at the very beginning of the new legislative period, policy guidelines, hearings, interviews and not least the new setup of Commission, Parliament and Council allow an idea about the future priorities and strategies from Brussels towards the world. While a complete turnaround of the EU’s strategy with its global partners seems unlikely, some shifts are to be expected: more (interest-driven) pragmatism, more prioritization and an attempt to forge more equal partnerships.

Geopolitics and Connectivity Take the Center Stage at the First EU-GCC Summit

The first ever EU-GCC Summit on 16 October 2024 served as a pivotal moment for both the European Union and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), emphasiz-ing mutual interests in economic growth, security, and energy cooperation. Two areas dominated the discussion: on the one hand finding common ground on pragmatic cooperation, particularly in the field of energy and connectivity, on the other hand finding common language on a number of current regional conflicts. While the number of concrete deliverables of the meeting has been limited (which was to be expected) and much work still lies ahead, the summit as such is remarkable signal. Both sides decided to meet every two years at heads of state level, the next meeting is to take place in Saudi-Arabia in 2026.

Fostering Security: NATO’s Reflection on the Southern Neighbourhood

In its 75th anniversary year, NATO is gearing up for its next Summit in Washington D.C this July, gathering leaders from all 32 Allies alongside presumably a large contingent of dignitaries from partner countries. The agenda promises a diverse array of discussions, with an expected significant focus on Russia’s aggressive war in Ukraine. However, beyond these pressing matters, other crucial issues will also be addressed. At the previous Vilnius Summit, held last summer, NATO Allies initiated a process to launch a comprehensive reflection process of the Alliance's relationship with the ‘Southern Neighbourhood.’ This reflection process aims to produce tangible proposals in time for the upcoming Summit. The reflection pro-cess is partly consistent of an external report written by experts that have been appointed by the Secretary General. However, this report is merely a part of the larger reflection process taking place internally.

Between Aspiration and Reality: European Diplomacy towards the Indo-Pacific

Ministerial Meeting of EU-ASEAN and EU-Indo-Pacific Forum in Brussels

While the public was captivated by the Special European Council on 1st February, important meetings between representatives of the Indo-Pacific and the EU took place almost simultaneously: Following a 'Pacific Day' in the European Parliament, representatives of the 27 EU member states met with their counterparts from the region on the morning of 2nd February as part of the ministerial meeting of the EU-Indo-Pacific Forum. Approximately 70 delegations from the eastern and southern coasts of Africa, across the Arabian Peninsula and Asia, to the island states of the Pacific Ocean participated in the negotiations.

Democracy and Climate Change: Lessons Learned from 3 “Flawed Democracies’’

India, Indonesia, and South Africa

What are the challenges in flawed democracies, and what approaches work? What are the practical lessons for climate actors in these and similar countries? A study for the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and the European Network of Political Foundations.

"Global Gateway" slowly gathers momentum

The Global Gateway Forum on October 25 and 26 in Brussels brought together high-level representatives from over 40 countries.

The meeting gave the EU the opportunity to publicly promote the Global Gateway infrastructure strategy, which was launched at the end of 2021, and to announce concrete project completions.

Japan’s new national security strategy: a platform for further cooperation with the EU?

By Alessandro De Cicco

In this study, Alessandro De Cicco pinpoints the main policy changes in the security architecture of Japan, a pacifist nation which constitutionally renounces war. But as Japan’s recently-adopted strategy testifies, the international community is facing challenges “defining an era”. This policy paper draws conclusions on the topical relevance of the EU-Japan partnership in the security field.

Adaptation and Mitigation Financing Solutions

By Jayant Sinha & Vedant Monger

The GCA Collaborative is an independent research effort to evaluate how Global South countries can best ally with Global North countries to accelerate climate action. Over the past two years, several academic institutions and think tanks have been collaborating on these issues and pooling their individual research efforts. The first version of this GCA handbook was launched at COP'27. With revisions and updates, the second version was released during the Think20 Inception Conference. The white paper series details the theoretical and empirical work behind the handbooks.

Driving Transformational Pathways

By Vedant Monger

The GCA Collaborative is an independent research effort to evaluate how Global South countries can best ally with Global North countries to accelerate climate action. Over the past two years, several academic institutions and think tanks have been collaborating on these issues and pooling their individual research efforts. The first version of this GCA handbook was launched at COP'27. With revisions and updates, the second version was released during the Think20 Inception Conference. The white paper series details the theoretical and empirical work behind the handbooks.