As the European Union tries to drum up interest this week in its Global Gateway investment strategy — designed to counter China’s Belt and Road — the bloc’s executive and its member states have been preparing a list of dozens of “flagship projects” for 2024.
The draft list, discussed ahead of this week’s Global Gateway Forum, currently underway in Brussels and seen by Devex, is particularly heavy on climate and energy, as well as transport. That trend follows the 2023 flagship projects, which prompted criticism that Europe had forgotten its treaty obligations to make tackling poverty the primary objective of its development assistance.
Rather, critics say, the Global Gateway is too focused on Europe’s own interest in securing supplies of renewable energy and critical raw materials, as well as preventing China from laying claim to the world’s digital infrastructure.
About the author
Vince Chadwickvchadw
Vince Chadwick is a contributing reporter at Devex. A law graduate from Melbourne, Australia, he was social affairs reporter for The Age newspaper, before covering breaking news, the arts, and public policy across Europe, including as a reporter and editor at POLITICO Europe. He was long-listed for International Journalist of the Year at the 2023 One World Media Awards.
