EU Global Gateway stalls as member states shun board meetings

International partnerships commissioner Jozef Sikela has pushed the gathering to the autumn, marking the second time this year that the board has failed to convene effectively. The April session saw a similarly hollow turnout; while chairs from three major European Parliament committees arrived to hold the project to account, only one national minister appeared. A lone EU commissioner reportedly attended that meeting, though he departed after just one hour.

Launched in 2022 with a massive €300bn mandate to fund infrastructure in developing nations—including a €100bn commitment to Africa—the project remains central to the bloc’s external policy. Despite this strategic weight, the repeated absence of ministerial-level oversight suggests a widening disconnect between the European Commission’s ambitions and the engagement of the EU-27 governments tasked with executing them.