The EPC, in conjunction with the Institute for Scientific Advancement of the South (ISAS), launched[IDC1] a project on the challenges and transformations faced by the EU and Emerging Market Economies (EMEs) in a rapidly changing world.
EMEs become increasingly important global players. While these countries do not necessarily share a common agenda, they have all made a huge leap forward in increasing their economic weight. With their increasing economic power, the EMEs are also gaining more and more political weight on the international stage. The emerging market economies are not a homogenous block sharing similar economic, political, social and cultural features. Although united in the commitment to develop and modernize their economies and societies, the reality is that each of them faces its own different conditions and domestic challenges.
In this context, Western developed economies, and Europe in particular, are still in need to find a coherent strategy to answer to this new balance of powers. In order to shed light on the relationship between the EMEs and the EU, this project focused on four key areas in which these two blocs of countries can cooperate in a meaningful way: climate change, trade, global economic trends, and global governance.