On March 22, 2024, Professor Sophie Meunier of Princeton University and Professor Eugénia da Conceição-Heldt of the Technical University of Munich organized an exploratory research workshop of the European Union’s new Global Gateway initiative at Princeton University. This workshop is organized by the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination (LISD) and co-sponsored by the European Union Program at Princeton (EUPP) and the Program in Contemporary European Politics and Society (EPS). 

The Global Gateway was officially announced by the European Union in December 2021 as a nouveau development program mobilizing up to 300 billion Euros from both private and public funding sources toward the Global South. The workshop brought together 15 distinguished speakers and guests from academia, the private sector, and the public sector. According to introductory remarks by Eugénia da Conceição-Heldt, the purpose of this workshop was threefold: discerning concrete directions of further inquiry around the Global Gateway, finding coherence among these questions, and gathering a group of scholars to analyze this project. 

The Workshop consisted of 3 panels. Panel 1 focused on answering whether the Global Gateway was the EU’s Answer to China’s Belt and Road Initiative? Speakers for this panel included Axel de La Maisonneuve, Lars-Hendrik Röller, Robert Basedow, and discussant Naima Green-Riley. 

Panel 2 explored whether the Global Gateway could be understood as a novel institutional structure or a rebranding of existing policies. Speakers for this panel included Maurizio Carbone, Simone Dietrich, Nicolas Bau, David Howarth, Helen Kavvadia, Eugénia da Conceição-Heldt, and discussant Robert Basedow. 

Panel 3 consisted of general evaluations of the Global Gateway and speculations on its future prospects. Speakers for this panel included Lina Benabdallah, Sebastian Heidebrecht, Anna Herranz-Surrallés, and discussant Soo Yeon Kim. 

The workshop also included feedback sessions where participants engaged with one another on their respective ongoing research projects on the Global Gateway. Sophie Meunier and Eugénia da Conceição-Heldt delivered the final remarks. The workshop concluded with the articulation of a few core research questions that will guide future discussion and research. 

With contributions from IPAs Abby Lu '26 and Justin Murdock '26.