European Strategy and Policy Analysis System

The European Strategy and Policy Analysis System (ESPAS) is a unique inter-institutional initiative of the EU that aims to identify the main global trends with a time horizon of 2030, assess the implications of these trends for the EU and review the challenges and policy options facing decision makers.  ESPAS brings together officials from the European Commission, European Parliament, General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union and the European External Action Service to work collaboratively, seeking to strengthen the Union's collective capacity to identify and analyse key trends and challenges, as well as the resulting policy choices, which are likely to confront the EU and the wider world in the decades ahead.

The world is experiencing change at a speed and intensity that is unprecedented.  Countries, institutions and policy makers across the globe find themselves increasingly reacting to the consequences of these changes rather than shaping the changes themselves.  There is a recognition on the part of governments, international organisations and the private sector of the need to incorporate a capacity for foresight in order to identify the global trends, assess their likely impact and fashion change accordingly.  The European Union as a major economic and political actor on the world stage is both impacted upon and contributes to these trends and, in common with others, understands the need for original thinkers in the EU institutions to offer new insights on policy choices that will help determine the lives of millions of our fellow citizens.

ESPAS has recently produced its first major report "Global Trends to 2030:  Can the EU meet the challenges ahead?".  The report draws on several years of work by the ESPAS team of officials and identifies key questions for policy-makers to address in the coming years.  It covers issues as diverse as the reshaping of the international economy, the rise of 'people power', the impact of a growing global middle class, increasing inequality, power shifts in international relations and the nature and extend of climate change.  In the coming years, ESPAS will continue to offer insights and original thinking on the big challenges that face the EU and the wider world.  It will do so with a team of dynamic thinkers drawn from the participating institutions and organisations who will also reach out, in a collaborative spirit, with others across the world who are engaged in similar work.

Latest reports

Global Trends to 2030: Can the EU meet the challenges ahead?	Global Strategic Trends - Out to 2045