The EU and Challenges of Global Governance

Agenda

The evolution of the European Union (EU) in the past half century has exercized an important influence on the approach of countries forming regional groupings in other parts of the world. Both the successes and the failures of the EU in managing the twin process of enlargement to embrace new Member States in a community of shared sovereignty and achieving closer internal integration can and will be seen as benchmarks of governance.

The next stages of European integration appear likely to be driven primarily by the need for the European Union to respond to the challenges of globalization and global interdependence. This is true in the areas of economic and social policy, where European aspirations for social cohesion and sustainable development are confronted with the pressure for global competitiveness and growth. It is also the case for the EU’s foreign, security and defense policies, as it faces the threat of terrorism and related issues of global freedom, security and justice. Finally, it is relevant for the way in which the EU responds to the challenges and opportunities created by the emergence of a global labor market and the issues of migration and integration.

In the coming period, the European Union will be reviewing its governance structure. In so doing, it will be faced with challenges that go beyond institutional design, and lie at the core of its political and economic identity.

In deciding what kind of governance it wishes to give itself, the European Union will be called upon to determine how to manage the mobility of capital, work and people within its frontiers and the rest of the world, and how to develop policy instruments to pursue competitive growth while maintaining the values of its democratic model. It will also have to consider how to position itself with regard to the challenges of a new political and economic global scenario, where emerging economies have a prominent role and where the management and provision of global public goods become increasingly important.

This discussion and the questions it raises, as well as the issues highlighted and the solutions attempted, will be of particular importance for how the EU formulates alternatives to the present challenges of globalization and contributes to the design of an international architecture for global governance.