From a regional hegemony to a global power in potency: the EU’s Global Strategy

This chapter offers an analysis of the potential implications of the 2016European Global Strategy on the spaces around the EU and further afield.While the European Neighbourhood Policy sought to gradually Europeanisethe Mediterranean and the Eastern European and Caucasian countries, theEuropean Global Strategy (EUGS) aims to redefine the EU’s mission in ahighly complex and rapidly mutable international environment. The EUGSendeavours to profile a broader mission for the EU, elevating it from a regionalto a global player while establishing more balanced relations with the externalpartners, whether they are states, communities, or people. While it is not yetclear how concretely the EU will operate to further the others’ resilience—thekey goal of the EUGS—it is thus clear that it will renounce to exert a structuralinfluence. The EU will not frame the neighbours’ policies, but it will help theminstead, guided by a principled pragmatism, to enhance a reforming processdomestically generated and crafted.