The third edition of the EPC Outlook Paper gives a thorough picture of the most important events happening around the world this coming year. It also looks at how these events will affect the EU's role in the world and suggests ways the EU and its member states can deal with all the challenges they will likely face in 2024 and beyond.
Rather than being an exercise in prediction, the Outlook Paper aims to be a navigation guide for the year ahead. It focuses on the most important global actors and regions, flashpoints, and emerging policy challenges for the EU. It begins by looking back at 2023 to revisit events and assumptions projected in last year's Outlook Paper. It then anticipates developments in select EU global relationships and policies for the coming year as the world continues dealing with Russia's war of aggression on Ukraine, faces renewed war in the Middle East, and enters an electoral year on steroids that could have profound geopolitical consequences in a pluripolar world.
The Outlook Paper appears in yearly instalments. Each edition has a central theme but also covers developments in a range of regions and countries worldwide that are strategic to the EU. The Paper includes an in-depth analysis of crucial policies, emerging challenges, and chronologies of critical events within and outside the EU. This critical feature reviews and reassesses previous assumptions, ensuring the continued quality of the EPC’s analysis.
Read the full paper here.
June 22, 2026
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