How Can the EU Shore up an International System Adrift?

Conference Details

Date: 15 September 2026

Time: 09:30

Duration: 1 day

Location: Brussels, Belgium

Cost: Free, registration needed

Organiser: CEPS - Centre for European Policy Studies

Conference Website

Conference Description

Previous crises of multilateralism were generally understood as periods of turbulence within a fundamentally stable system, where reforms or renewed commitments could restore order. By contrast, the current moment is characterised by the deliberate and systematic weaponisation of economic integration, increasingly transactional and coercive strategies by great powers, and the proliferation of alternative governance arrangements that fragment rather than coordinate global efforts. Multilateral institutions such as the United Nations, World Trade Organization, and the Conference of the Parties (COP) are not merely under strain: their financial viability and core architecture are under threat. Consensus-based rulemaking has slowed or stalled altogether. All this undermines the credibility and effectiveness of international commitments. For the EU, maintaining the status quo is neither realistic nor desirable.

In a diplomatic strategy aligned with the EU’s core values, it is essential to engage with third countries to ensure widespread cooperation. But how can issue-specific partnerships be developed into sustainable bilateral and multilateral relations? Should the focus be on global powers like the US, middle powers like Canada or swing states of the ‘Plural South’?

Finance remains one of the most contested dimensions of multilateral governance. Given that the costs and benefits of addressing the challenges to many global goods are unevenly distributed across countries, international financial flows are central to ensuring participation, implementation, and political buy in. Yet, disputes persist over the amount, sources and governance of finance. How can the EU help to secure predictable financing for organisations in areas where the robustness of multilateralism and the EU’s strategic interests are at stake?

A central tension in many EU external policies is the growing gap between its traditional self-image as a champion of open, rules-based multilateralism and its increasingly pragmatic, interest-driven response to a deteriorating geopolitical environment. Arguably, an effective, democratic and robust EU diplomacy within global governance depends not only on negotiation outcomes, but also on the EU’s capacity to shape and sustain credible narratives about multilateralism itself. How can the EU adapt its strategic communications to marry the outcomes of multilateralism and democratic inclusivity, illustrated by substantial, observable measures?