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EU Global Strategy Expert Opinion No.39 – Lorena Ruano
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The EU faces three major challenges that are shifting power inside it and weakening it in a more dangerous and complex world.
First, the economic crisis of 2008 sharply altered the distribution of power inside the EU, leaving Germany as a hegemon in economic matters, while the periphery has found itself impoverished and politically polarised. A global economic meltdown was initially avoided by the dynamism of the emerging economies, further diffusing power at the international level and leading to the establishment of the G20.