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CRISIS OF MULTILATERALISM AND THE EU’S EXTERNAL ACTION

107

tween France and Germany, but that is not all.

More players must come on board. In that re-

spect, with the United Kingdom in the process

of leaving, opportunities are opening up for

Member States such as Spain.

The response of the EU and its Member States

to the crisis of multilateralism is capable of mate-

rialising in three ways. First, renationalisation,

division and decline in integration and, therefore,

a dispersion of external action. Second, a rear-

rangement dependant on the other major pow-

ers, acting reactively to the United States, China

and Russia. And third, the most desirable, a

“Eurolateralism” consisting of asserting all the

economic, political and cultural influence of

the EU to structure a world in the 21

st

century

based on rules more favourable to European po-

sitions, interests and values. According to this

option, with the current constellation of leaders

such as Trump, Putin or Xi Jinping, the response

of the EU and its Member States would not be

“Europe First,” but a multilateralism reformed

and led by the Europeans, in the image of the

best of the EU. There appears to be no other

option that will enable the EU to survive in a

hostile environment like the present one.