The European Union and the Multilateral System Lessons from Past Experience and Future Challenges

Over the years, the European Union has become a key player on the international scene in many areas, from its role in economic and financial affairs to the importance of its development policy, its commitment to fight climate change and its engagement to defend human rights. The 2003 European Security Strategy, a milestone in the development of an independent EU foreign and security policy, already dedicated an entire section to the importance of 'an international order based on effective multilateralism'.1 This chapter of the strategy argued that regional organisations, such as the EU, are key actorsin the multilateral system and strengthen global governance. As such, multilateralism is not only a cornerstone of the European external policy, as emphasised again by the 2016 EU Global Strategy, 2 but it is a real 'identity factor' for the EU.

The integration of the EU in the multilateral order has never been easy in a world dominated by state actors. Today, a complex international landscape poses many challenges to the Union, from the risk of collapse of the multilateral trading system to new strategies endorsed by key global players such as the United States and China. The very essence of the EU is to promote structures and systems which favour the gradual elaboration and implementation of common rules in all areas of economic activity. In that sense, the EU was moving with the Zeitgeist of the second half of the 20th century. Yet, the recent re-emergence of more traditional great power politics and a more transactional approach to both bilateral and multilateral negotiations threaten to change the rules of the game.