Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 01/2012

Europe's declining role in the G-20: What role for the EU in the club of the most important powers?

Juha Jokela

December 2011

Finnish Institute for International Affairs

Abstract

Europe and the EU have played an influential role in the development and decision-making of the Group of Twenty (G-20). Europe’s influence in shaping the developments in the group and, more broadly, in global governance is, however, declining. The G-20 Summit in Cannes provided Europe with an opportunity to re-assert its leadership. Its aspirations were, however, overshadowed by internal divisions heightened by the deepening European sovereign debt crisis. Even prior to the current crisis, the increasing global competition and decrease in standing turned EU members inward-looking. Instead of a further Europeanization of foreign policy and external relations, many have observed a tendency to re-nationalize European policy-making.