New Event: The EU as a Good Global Actor

This exploratory workshop at City Law School, City, University of London funded by HEIF/ EUTIP MSC ITN action reflects upon the understanding of the EU as a Good Global Actor.

The EU has as its mission to be a good global governance actor yet is continuously challenged in the world. As a global actor, the EU is both a weak and strong actor in a divergent range of global governance areas. It is not comparable to study the EU as a global trade actor for example to its efforts in human rights, data, cyber or the environment. EU international relations constitutes arguably a booming field of law where the EU appears often to be a victim of its own success. The range of the subjects and objects of EU law continues to expand and the EU is arguably increasingly a victim of its own success, increasingly taking decisions with impacts on third countries or parties, subjecting more entities to sanctions regimes, being bound to consult more entities and have more third countries, parties and entities such as lobbyists interested in the directions of EU law.  The assessment of the EU as a global actor includes broad checks on normative action ex ante and ex post facto- yet it is no less harsh. Ex ante metrics of EU global action include court-centred ones such as an opinion from the CJEU on legality of an international agreement, often precluded in most constitutional systems on account of its conflict with pacta sunt servanda. The contours of the principle of the autonomy of EU law have the capacity to put more stringent parameters on EU institutionalised evolutions as to international engagement. How can we assess the EU as a global actor given these realities? This exploratory one-day event explores informally the nexus between trade and security, trade and economics and trade and human rights as a future research agenda with input from a variety of scholars.

It reflects upon four major themes:

– The EU’s Contribution to the Democratisation of Global Governance

– Deeper Trade Agreements and New Normative Foundations

– The EU as a Global Actor in Trade and Fundamental Rights

– EU’s Trade in the Era of Global Data Flows