The emerging countries, most prominently Brazil, Russia, India and China, are impacting on the established institutional order in a multitude of ways, many of which challenge either materially or normatively the capacity of the European Union to exert influence in the international system. On the bases of the analytical framework of a book project, this panel analyses how the EU is reacting to changes in the configuration of power, institutions and ideas in different international issue areas. The panel different papers show that the EU response to international structural change has varied depending on the policy area. In certain cases, the response has been accommodation: EU policy adjustment seeking compromise with the newly empowered actors. In others, however, it has been entrenchment: maintaining the policy held prior to structural change. Finally, there have also been cases where evidence of both accommodation and entrenchment can be found.