Both the present international and the present European legal order have their origin in the same time and in a similar spirit. Later developments, however, set the European Union (EU) and its predecessors further apart from the international legal system. Still their points of mutual contact and interaction remain numerous which allows for their comparison with a view of reforming the present international legal order in order to replace it by a truly ‘global legal order’, i.e. a legal framework that is apt to provide the legal certainty and predictability necessary for the peaceful and sustainable development of humanity in the 21st century. In this respect both systems struggle with similar problems, perhaps only different in terms of gravity and scope. Notwithstanding this struggle, the present reform efforts taken by the major international institutions must be deemed insufficient and should be mainstreamed and better coordinated. To this end, it is believed here, the evolution of the EU system can provide useful and persuasive experiences. The latter, however, should not only try to realise some of its own ideals externally and at the global level but equally remain open and alert to its internal problems at the regional level.