Multilateral coalitions are increasingly important for combatting global challenges. Europeans have many eligible – and untapped – potential partner countries, but to stand out they need to ensure their offer is as grounded in these partners’ interests as their own.
Increasing global competition among old and emerging powers has left Europeans struggling to shape their geopolitical environment and amplify their voices. It is also narrowing their scope for international cooperation at a time when it is urgently needed. From rising temperatures to geopolitical insecurity, digital transformations, and economic uncertainty, Europeans are craving companionship on the world stage to find multilateral solutions to these challenges.
To unlock these relationships, ECFR’s Multilateral Matchmaker allows policymakers to explore partner countries based on their compatibility with European interests. It also identifies 12 countries in the global south with significant relationship potential that has until now remained relatively untapped.
The European Union cannot afford to be an unattractive partner. Just like in matters of the heart, Europeans need to ensure that their offer is irresistible to potential suitors who have myriad options to choose, mix, and match from. Like any good wingman, Multilateral Matchmaker outlines how Europeans can be good partners to ensure that any future cooperation is not perceived as moralising or uncredible, and is rooted in the needs of their partner countries as much as their own.
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About the authors:
Carla Hobbs is the deputy director of the European Power programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations.
Rafael Loss is a policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. His work focuses on security and defence in the Euro-Atlantic area; military operations, innovation, and technology; and nuclear strategy and arms control.
Dr. Jana Puglierin is a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations and head of its Berlin office since January 2020. She also directs ECFR’s Re:shape Global Europe project, which seeks to develop new strategies for Europeans to understand and engage with the changing international order.
Pawel Zerka is a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. He is a lead ECFR analyst on European public opinion. He contributes to ECFR’s Re:shape Global Europe project, which seeks to develop new strategies for Europeans to understand and engage with the changing international order.