On 25 March 2026, the FGV Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, co-funded by the European Commission under the Erasmus+ Programme, and the FGV Centre for Global Law, both directed by Professor Paula Wojcikiewicz Almeida, were honored to welcome Prof. Jan Wouters, Full Professor of International Law and International Organizations, Jean Monnet Chair ad personam and Director of the Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies and the Institute for International Law at KU Leuven.

In his lecture, moderated by Prof. Paula Wojcikiewicz Almeida, Prof. Wouters discussed the European Union’s (EU) efforts to uphold the international rules-based order. He began with an overview of the current global situation, in which it is increasingly difficult to find consensus among states and international law is vanishing from the policy discourse of several countries, including the US. The multilateral system that emerged last century is being undermined, with many institutions at serious peril, treaties becoming obsolete to deal with contemporary problems, and a reluctance of states to create new binding rules. Against this background, the EU is faced with the challenge of how to be strong and consistent about its support of international law and multilateral cooperation.

Prof. Wouters concluded the lecture with a call for the mobilization of positive forces to uphold international law. For instance, the EU—Mercosur agreement offers new possibilities for cooperation. He held that the EU tries to deepen alliances with reliable partners, but these partnerships remain mostly bilateral, so one possibility would be to accumulate them and create a new gathering of countries that are still willing to work together to support multilateral institutions and face global challenges like climate change and humanitarian law. However, Prof. Wouters clarified that we should not duplicate the UN, but rather create something new to contribute to the renewal of international law through the mobilization of different resources.

We extend our gratitude to Prof. Jan Wouters for a fruitful discussion on this timely subject. We look forward to further collaboration.