COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT REPORT Accompanying the document Proposal for a REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL establishing Global Europe
Date: 2025-07-16
Institutions: Directorate-General for International Partnerships, European Commission
Subjects: EU action, EU aid, EU financial instrument, European neighbourhood policy, common foreign and security policy, cooperation policy, enlargement of the Union, humanitarian aid, multiannual financial framework, sustainable development

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   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 16.7.2025  SWD(2025) 553 final  COMMISSION STAFF WORKING DOCUMENT  EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OF THE IMPACT ASSESSMENT REPORT  Accompanying the document Proposal for a  REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL establishing Global Europe {COM(2025) 551 final} - {SEC(2025) 548 final} - {SWD(2025) 552 final}  
 
 
Executive summary 

This Staff Working Document constitutes the Impact Assessment accompanying the proposal 
for the next external financing instrument Global Europe in view of the Multiannual Financial 
Framework post-2027. 

The EU operates in an environment marked by geopolitical rivalry, geoeconomic competition, 
and  multiple  crises,  posing  challenges  of  unprecedented  magnitude.  To  navigate  these 
challenges, the EU needs to enhance its external financing instruments, balancing predictability 
with flexibility. The baseline assessment of current instruments, i.e. NDICI-Global Europe, the 
Instrument  for  Pre-accession  Assistance  III  as  well  as  the  Ukraine,  Western  Balkans  and 
Moldova  facilities,  indicates  their  effectiveness  but  also  reveals  architectural  weaknesses, 
which  are  further  exposed  in  an  increasingly  volatile  geopolitical  environment.  These 
weaknesses stem from their insufficient adaptability to a rapidly changing world and a lack of 
coherence in advancing the EU’s strategic interests. 

To address these issues, the impact assessment proposes three specific objectives: 1) provide 
adaptability  and  stability  by  striking  the  right  balance  between  programmable  and 
unprogrammable  actions,  2)  increase  responsiveness  by  simplifying  the  architecture  of  the 
instruments,  3)  advance  policy  coherence  and  the  EU’s  strategic  interests  by  creating  and 
updating tools. These objectives are further qualified in sub-objectives. 

Three options, varying in their approach to flexibility and predictability of the Union action, 
have  been  designed  for  the  purpose  of  this  impact  assessment  to  compare  how  they  would 
advance the above specific objectives in relation to the baseline, while assessing the options’ 
economic, social and environmental impacts. 

Based  on  the  analysis  of  impacts  and  comparison  to  the  baseline,  option  2  emerges  as  the 
preferred  choice.  It  provides  benefits  by  simplifying  regulatory  frameworks,  enhancing  the 
efficiency and adaptability of resource allocation and by fostering policy coherence, thereby 
supporting the EU's strategic interests, long-term objectives as well as more short-term goals 
and crisis response effectively and efficiently. Option 2 would keep Ukraine-related support, 
including  both  pre-accession  and  reconstruction,  over  and  above  the  MFF  ceilings,  thereby 
allowing to provide credible support to Ukraine while ensuring the external financing’s overall 
efficiency in pursuing strategic objectives in other geographic areas. 

This qualitative assessment strategically outlines the potential for enhanced EU external action 
under a merged external financing instrument. 

The open public consultation organised in 2025 and the independent study underpinning the 
mid-term evaluation constitute the main evidence of the impact assessment.