(noun)
The EU’s flagship strategy for turning development cooperation into an investment portfolio. Officially described as a strategy to build “smart, clean and secure connections” around the world; unofficially, a €300 billion matchmaking service between European public money and private-sector profits.
Features include:
- Development priorities replaced by “bankable projects”
- Civil society turned from an actor to a spectator
- Official Development Assistance (ODA) rules treated as optional reading material
- EU values secondary to whatever attracts investors
Example:
“We were expecting support for local public health systems, but Global Gateway arrived with a risk-guarantee package for multinational infrastructure firms.”
Translation:
“It’s not aid, it’s leverage. It’s not solidarity, it’s an asset class.”
