The development of a global EU Connectivity Strategy: The creation of the Global Gateway

Abstract: This thesis unpacks the similarities and dissimilarities between Connecting Europe and Asia – Building blocks for an EU Strategy from 2018 and the Global Gateway from 2021, two Joint Communications from the European Commission and the EEAS on connectivity. The comparison shows that the Global Gateway has followed up on the suggestions for change or creation from the 2018 strategy. It shows that the strategies have different geographical areas of focus and that the Connecting Europe and Asia wanted to create a connection between Europe and Asia. Whereas the Global Gateway wants to forge links and not create dependencies in third countries. In addition, the Global Gateway will be carried out by the newly created, Team Europe approach, which entails cooperation on different levels of the EU system. The thesis applies multilevel governance to analyse and explain the development and the changed approach by the EU Commission and the EEAS. This is done by analysing different supranational and national EU actors’ actions and opinions. Moreover, it discusses the impact that the changed relationship between the EU and China in 2019, when it changed from strategic partners to systemic rivals, had on the creation of a global EU strategy on connectivity.