The EU and Multilateral Organizations

This chapter focuses on the EU’s position in global governance and particularly on the EU’s relations with multilateral organizations. It first discusses the EU’s choice of multilateralism and its status, coordination and representation practices in international fora. Next, the chapter examines the participation of the EU in the UN, international financial institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank, and in more informal systems of ‘club governance’ such as the Gx system (i.e. G7, G8 and G20). Finally, it discusses the EU’s position in so-called ‘competing multilateralisms’ in the Asia-Pacific region. The EU’s relations towards some other major international organizations are described elsewhere in this book (see Chapter 8 for NATO and Chapter 9 for WTO).