Real Instituto Elcano has recently released the last edition of the Elcano Global Presence Index (IEPG), an index whose objective is to measure the global presence of the countries worldwide.
The catching-up process of several emerging economies and the crisis in the United States and Europe have also had implications for their global presence: the IEPG shows that Western countries keep on losing positions in the global scene. However, if the European Union were to count as a single country, it would top the world in terms of global presence. The economic divergence and concentration that characterise the European Union are also apparent in terms of intra-European presence: in general terms, the old members have more ‘presence gains’ than the newcomers. Lastly, the IEPG shows that the weaknesses of Spanish external insertion call for a new foreign action strategy. You can consult the Index here.