Guaranteeing the Global Gateway: National Development Finance Institutions and the Transformation of EU Development Finance

The recent European Global Gateway Initiative pledged more than 300 billion euros in public and private investment in infrastructure to satisfy international demand while maximizing the economic interests of member countries. However, European development cooperation policy is traditionally far removed from the hard sectors, with an emphasis on promoting democracy and social well-being. How has the European development cooperation architecture evolved to support infrastructure investment in the Global South? We trace the way in which the European Commission has reformed the European development architecture to place national Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) center stage in the financing of the Global Gateway (GG). The Commission opened European guarantees to competition shifting access away from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and allowing DFIs to benefit more extensively from these guarantees. Using an original database, we show that DFIs are at the core of the GG initiative and that the projects funded support European economic interests.