For some time now, multilateralism, which is embedded in international law, has come under pressure. However, protracted turbulences and ambivalences which sometimes point in diametrically opposed directions create space for political actors. In GLOBAL TRENDS. ANALYSIS 2|2021, Heike Krieger calls on EU member states to promote favourable trends for stabilising the international order. To this end, they should prefer a legally embedded type of multilateralism over informal network structures of the like-minded. This will require these states to act consistently, credibly and compliantly and to continuously negotiate for shared understandings of international law, in particular with the Global South.