With growing worldwide distrust in Trump’s America, the EU has both the opportunity and the responsibility to act decisively to safeguard and transform the institutions and character of multilateral governance. The EU’s capacity to lead, however, is uneven: it is strong in regulatory agenda-setting in some areas, but weaker where geopolitics and financing are decisive – and where US backsliding or geopolitical competition with China undercuts universal processes and internal political cohesion.
To succeed, the EU must move beyond symbolic and procedural reforms. Starting with policy areas like trade and climate change – which lie at the heart of its own multilateral agenda and impact the sovereignty of its members – the EU must combine normative leadership with pragmatic fixes.
This paper was produced as part of the ENSURED project and originally published here.
