On 5 November 2025, the FGV Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, co-funded by the European Union under the Erasmus+ programme, in partnership with the FGV Centre for Global Law, was honored to welcome Dr. Gustavo G. Müller, senior researcher at the Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies (KU Leuven). The class was part of the third edition of the Rio School on Global Governance, Democracy and Human Rights.

Dr. Müller presented an overview of the European Union’s (EU) quest for open strategic autonomy, including the pursuit of decision-making independence based on values and interests. The first part of the class focused on identifying foundational changes in the global order and their consequences. While the EU was created under a growing multilateral system, it now operates in a new world context, which presents challenges of its own. According to Dr. Müller, three long-term systemic drivers of this change are: technological transformation; climate and energy transition; and demographics and migration, issues that will largely not be addressed by multilateral solutions.

The second part of the lecture assessed the features and challenges of the European foreign policy. Historically, the EU has had quite multiple roles to play internationally, including civilian, normative, military and market powers. One of the challenges for the EU to achieve strategic autonomy is the pragmatism of its foreign policy. It is also legally guided by the values promoted in its treaties. Dr. Müller invited students to reflect on what role the EU may play in this changing global order, in which the economic dimension seems not to be enough to ensure the European strategic autonomy. 

We sincerely thank Dr. Gustavo Müller for a thought-provoking class on this timely topic.