A stronger Europe in the world

Delivering on our promises

The EU has shown many times how tremendous challenges can be overcome when working with friends and partners. The EU's ability to form powerful alliances across the world has helped strengthen Europe’s role globally.   

From 2019 to 2024, the work of the von der Leyen Commission brought relations with the United States to new levels, gave support through close cooperation to Ukraine, as well as on energy, climate action, trade and technology. It has also helped re-set post-Brexit relations with the United Kingdom.  

Around the world, we boosted Europe’s capacity to provide vital support to countries hit by disaster, from floods to forest fires, from earthquakes to medical emergencies. 

And we developed a new generation of partnerships, with Global Gateway, Europe's largest global investment programme ever. Global Gateway, worth €300 billion, is our offer for quality investment and infrastructure projects that respect high environmental and social standards and create jobs and growth locally.   

Europe is consolidating its reputation as a reliable long-term partner, working for mutual benefits. 

Promises kept

Enlargement 

• The Commission started accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia in July 2022. Bosnia and Herzegovina was granted candidate status at the end of that year.
• In June 2024, EU accession negotiations with Ukraine and  Moldova began. Georgia was given candidate status at the end of 2023.
• We launched a new Growth Plan for the Western Balkans to accelerate economic convergence of the region with the EU.

Support to Ukraine

• Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Commission stood with Ukraine and provided unwavering diplomatic, financial, military, and economic support. It adopted several packages of wide-ranging sanctions against Russia and its allies.  

Global Gateway 

• The Global Gateway investment programme is delivering lasting benefits and bringing jobs and growth to local communities with almost 225 flagship projects including strategic partnerships on raw materials with Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Namibia, Chile and Argentina, and collaboration on renewable hydrogen with Morocco, Mauritania, Egypt, Kenya, and Namibia.
• Additionally, €3.2 billion have been targeted to renewable energy projects that will benefit 100 million Africans by 2030 and Team Europe is also investing over €1.2 billion in local manufacturing of vaccines, medicines and health technologies in Africa.
• In Latin America and the Caribbean, €145 million are being invested in the Digital Alliance, including the land extension of the fibre-optic submarine Bella Cable, to enhance cooperation on research and innovation. And in Asia, our support includes solar and hydro power projects in Bhutan, and storage capacity of hydroelectricity in Nepal. 

Global fight against climate change 

• We launched the Global Methane Pledge and consistently advocated for climate action at the COPs.
• In November 2024, President von der Leyen and South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa launched the global campaign “Scaling up Renewables in Africa”.
• At the COP15 on biodiversity, we spearheaded a global biodiversity agreement which sets global targets for restoring and protecting ecosystems and reducing pesticides risks by half until 2030.
• We led the conclusion of the UN High Seas Treaty, a global deal to protect biodiversity on the high seas.
• Together with our G7 partners, we launched Just Energy Transition Partnerships with South Africa, Senegal, Indonesia, and Vietnam, to support them in their transition to clean energy alternatives. 

Addressing COVID-19 pandemic globally 

• Team Europe mobilised €53.7 billion to help partner countries deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The Commission contributed €400 million to the COVAX programme, a multilateral effort to bring vaccines to developing countries.
• Team Europe ensured that 10.5 million vaccine doses were donated through COVAX to over 55 countries worldwide.
• Through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, we delivered over 190 million medical and personal protective equipment items for third countries. 

Global trade 

• We concluded three new-generation Free Trade Agreements with New Zealand, Chile, and Kenya.
• We concluded our first ever sustainable investment deal with Angola.
• We launched and continued negotiations towards future free trade agreements with key partners including India, Indonesia, Australia, Mercosur, Thailand, the Philippines and Malaysia.
• We continued to work to stabilise the rules underpinning international trade by leading efforts to reform the World Trade Organization, including its dispute settlement mechanism. 

Middle East  

• We concluded an agreement with the Palestinian Authority to address its critical budgetary and fiscal situation and provided over €380 million in grants and loans between July and November 2024 as emergency financial support.
• As of November 2024, thanks to the Humanitarian Air Bridge, over 60 flights had delivered around 3,000 tonnes of aid to the Palestinian people in Gaza.
• We delivered humanitarian assistance worth over €104 million to Lebanon. 

EU-US relations 

• In December 2020, the Commission launched a New Transatlantic Agenda for Global Change to revitalise our partnership with the US.
• We advanced the EU-US Energy Council and Dialogue and established a new Task Force on Energy Security.
• We launched the EU-US Trade and Technology Council (TTC) in 2021, where we strengthened transatlantic cooperation; jointly shaped the rules and standards on emerging technologies, connectivity, and digital infrastructure and made progress towards greener and fairer trade. 

Responding to international crises 

• We established rescEU medical stockpiles, containing crucial equipment such as ventilators, personal protective equipment, and medicines, as well as the potential to deploy field hospitals during crises.
• We launched EU Humanitarian Aid Bridge flights to channel aid to the most difficult to reach areas.
• We developed the rescEU forest firefighting air fleet, hosted across EU Member States, to better respond to forest fire emergencies across Europe, such as in Greece in the summer of 2023.
• We developed global stockpiles of aid hosted in Latin America, the Middle East, Asia, and Europe to be able to send aid faster to crises zones, such as in the aftermath of the Türkiye-Syria earthquake in 2023.
• In the context of Russia’s war against Ukraine, we set up logistical hubs to deliver over 152,000 tonnes of aid to Ukraine, as well as enabling the evacuation of over 3,800 wounded and critically ill Ukrainian patients to hospitals across Europe. 

Bilateral and regional agreements 

• The EU signed the Samoa Agreement with the members of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States in November 2023, covering sustainable development and growth, human rights and peace and security.
• The Commission, together with the High Representative, launched the Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific in September 2021.
• In 2023, we launched the EU-India Trade and Technology Council to help increase bilateral trade and to cooperate on trusted technology.
• We concluded digital partnerships with Japan, the Republic of Korea, Singapore, and Canada.
• We negotiated new-generation Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreements with individual countries in Central Asia. 

EU-UK relations 

• We signed the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA) in December 2020, detailing the EU’s future relationship with the UK, post-Brexit.
• In February 2023, President von der Leyen and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak agreed the Windsor Framework which includes comprehensive solutions aimed at addressing the practical challenges faced by citizens and businesses in Northern Ireland.
• In October 2024, President von der Leyen and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer met and agreed to strengthen the relationship between the UK and the EU. 

Human rights 

• The EU launched new frameworks for dialogue focused on human rights with Saudi Arabia and Oman, and we resumed dialogues with India, Israel and China.  

Read more about these achievements