Publication

This paper reviews the findings of the 2015 Elcano Global Presence Index on the extent of the global presence of the EU and Spain and how the member states of the former and the regions of the latter contribute to each actor’s global influence. The authors also provide a brief overview of the main findings of the Index on the overall global presence of the EU in relation to other global actors. The authors contend that the results show that the EU - the political unit with the greatest global presence - mainly gains this position due to the economic and soft power of the UK, Germany and France. They also suggest that Catalonia, Madrid, and to a lesser extent, Andalusia and Valencia, contribute the most to Spain’s global presence.