The European Commission has launch a Call for Evidence to prepare its 2026 Strategic Foresight Report, which will explore a crucial question: How can the EU shape its long-term role in a rapidly changing and uncertain world?
Strategic foresight reports provide essential input for EU policies, as they highlight how short- and mid-term policy decisions could affect a variety of long-term future scenarios in the EU. As the ability to respond to global challenges depends largely on policies developed at the EU level, there is clear added value in developing such a report at EU level.
The Commission seeks evidence-informed input, particularly on the guiding question above as well on the following more specific questions:
- Which areas of leverage (especially those that are new or so far unexploited) could help the EU shape its long-term role in the world?
’Leverage areas’ are domains where the EU can translate its underlying sources of power and capacities into concrete influence on the global stage. They may concern a range of geopolitical dimensions (or a combination of them), such as: geography and the environment, military capabilities, the economy, technology, science and innovation, culture and identity, governance and politics, statecraft and diplomacy. While traditional leverage (for example, the economic power of the Single Market) remains essential, the ambition is to find novel approaches to exert influence and expand Europe’s strategic room for manoeuvre.
- Which narratives about the European Union can help the EU shape its long-term global role?
We know that narratives that have shaped global perceptions about the EU in recent decades, such as the EU as the standard-setting economic superpower, creating the ‘Brussels effect’, or the EU as a peace project, are now increasingly contested. As the global context evolves, both existing or emerging narratives will influence how the EU is seen and how it can frame its long-term role in the world.
Feedback period : 11 December 2025 - 22 January 2026 (midnight Brussels time)
To contribute : https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/better-regulation/have-your-say/initiatives/15972-2026-Strategic-Foresight-Report_en
