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.”