Budapest Post

Cum Deo pro Patria et Libertate
Budapest, Europe and world news

EU to launch Global Gateway projects, “challenging” China’s Belt and Road

EU Officials finalize project details, amid reports that Beijing is slowing investment approvals. However, its not clear what Europe wants to build for others, while it failed to build it's own economy. It is not clear yet if it's a real project or yet just another channel to transfer EU money to EU officials, family and friends’ pockets.

The European Union's competition with China's Belt and Road will heat up early next year — with top officials convinced that the new flagship infrastructure projects would offer the developing countries a viable alternative.

EU officials responsible for the Global Gateway initiative are finalizing details for the selected projects, amid reports that Beijing is slowing investment approvals due to the sluggish global economy.

Over the last decade, Beijing has vastly developed networks of trade, transport hubs and energy routes under the Belt and Road initiative, while Huawei Technologies and other Chinese tech companies have invested heavily in the digital infrastructure of countries in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called at a recent meeting to bring visibility to the scheme, which aims at mobilizing up to €300 billion in public and private funds by 2027 to finance EU infrastructure projects abroad.

"We want to position Europe in a more competitive international environment. Global Gateway is therefore also about delivering visible results on the ground," she told officials in charge of the initiative, according to excerpts of her remarks seen by POLITICO.

"We suffer from a lack of visibility and recognition," she added. "We remain very fragmented between various Team Europe operators, and we still shy away from delivering visible hard infrastructure projects."

Citing a survey, von der Leyen said: "When asked in 2020 which partner had the most positive influence on their countries, only 10 percent of Africans mentioned the EU. Forty-seven percent said China."


Fragmented, slow


The remarks come on top of criticism that the West has repeatedly promised to challenge China's Belt and Road investments, but that the effort is too fragmented and slow.

In a joint interview with POLITICO, the EU's top civil servants in foreign policy and international development vowed that the EU would present a credible, competitive alternative to the Belt and Road.

"Once we will have rolled out much more substantially the concept of Global Gateway," it will prove to be an "attractive" option — "exactly as Belt and Road has been seen with all the negativity, if I may, with all the problems that it was creating," said Stefano Sannino, secretary general of the European External Action Service.

Koen Doens, the European Commission's director general for international partnerships, echoed the optimism. "Precisely the idea of now choosing a number of Global Gateway projects that we can put in the shopping window is to show how to a certain extent, it's also different ... Quantity matters, but quality matters as well," he said.

A concrete example is the EU's partnership with Namibia, which is key to Brussels' search for more sources of renewable energy and raw materials. The partnership will develop infrastructure to produce green hydrogen for export via the port of Walvisbaai, as well as local training and cooperation on research and innovation. "It perfectly merges what Namibia considers as being its strategic interest with what Europe considers as being a very important strategic investment for us," Doens added.

For the EU — and especially Doens' department — Global Gateway marked a paradigm shift. Traditionally, the bloc has focused on aid in its partnerships with developing countries. Making strategic investments, on the other hand, involves identifying Europe's needs, involving the private sector and a mindset to actively compete with other powers like China. That required a shift, Doens said, "not just in Brussels, but also in the other capitals of Team Europe."

The EU's external action service is not in the lead for Global Gateway. But Doens and Sannino shrugged off rumors about intra-institutional competition on the project, and their joint interview sends that message both internally and externally. "It has always been my philosophy: we work together, we don't work against [each other]," Sannino said.

AI Disclaimer: An advanced artificial intelligence (AI) system generated the content of this page on its own. This innovative technology conducts extensive research from a variety of reliable sources, performs rigorous fact-checking and verification, cleans up and balances biased or manipulated content, and presents a minimal factual summary that is just enough yet essential for you to function as an informed and educated citizen. Please keep in mind, however, that this system is an evolving technology, and as a result, the article may contain accidental inaccuracies or errors. We urge you to help us improve our site by reporting any inaccuracies you find using the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of this page. Your helpful feedback helps us improve our system and deliver more precise content. When you find an article of interest here, please look for the full and extensive coverage of this topic in traditional news sources, as they are written by professional journalists that we try to support, not replace. We appreciate your understanding and assistance.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
Tulsi Gabbard Unveils Evidence Alleging Political Manipulation of Intelligence During Trump Administration
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Trump Announces Coca-Cola to Shift to Cane Sugar in U.S. Production
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
Moonshot AI Unveils Kimi K2: A New Open-Source AI Model
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Proposes Supplying Arms to Ukraine Through NATO Allies
US Opens First Rare Earth Mine in Over 70 Years in Wyoming
Bitcoin Reaches New Milestone of $116,000
Severe Heatwave Claims 2,300 Lives Across Europe
Declining Beer Consumption Signals Cultural Shift in Germany
Emails Leaked: How Passenger Luggage Became a Side Income for Airport Workers
Polish MEP: “Dear Leftists - China is laughing at you, Russia is laughing, India is laughing”
Western Europe Records Hottest June on Record
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
China’s Central Bank Consults European Peers on Low-Rate Strategies
France Requests Airlines to Cut Flights at Paris Airports Amid Planned Air Traffic Controller Strike
Poland Implements Border Checks Amid Growing Migration Tensions
Emirates Airline Expands Market Share with New $20 Million Campaign
Amazon Reaches Milestone with Deployment of One Millionth Robot
Yulia Putintseva Calls for Spectator Ejection at Wimbledon Over Safety Concerns
House Oversight Committee Subpoenas Former Jill Biden Aide Amid Investigation into Alleged Concealment of President Biden's Cognitive Health
Amazon Reaches Major Automation Milestone with Over One Million Robots
Extreme Heat Wave Sweeps Across Europe, Hitting Record Temperatures
Meta Announces Formation of Ambitious AI Unit, Meta Superintelligence Labs
Robots Compete in Football Tournament in China Amid Injuries
China Unveils Miniature Insect-Like Surveillance Drone
Marc Marquez Claims Victory at Dutch Grand Prix Amidst Family Misfortune
×