Global Gateway: A Strategic Approach to Addressing Accountability Gaps

The paper examines the EU’s Global Gateway’s legal and institutional design to assess whether it ensures accountability and enforceable responsibility, focusing on Africa and the digital governance pillar. It combines analysis of legal and quasi-legal documents with a case study of the Data Governance in Africa Initiative, situated within scholarship on EU–Africa digital cooperation and AU data governance. This qualitative, doctrinal approach traces how obligations move through the “Team Europe” architecture, from the European Commission and Member States to implementing agencies and African regulators, identifying where accountability fragments. The paper argues that the absence of a clear locus of responsibility weakens transparency, complicates remedies for African partners, and undermines the EU’s claim to normative leadership. It proposes mechanisms such as outcome-linked disbursement, co-signature clauses, and stronger transparency in MoUs to make multi-actor cooperation frameworks more enforceable and equitable.