The European Union's (EU) Strategic Partnerships (SP) are the dimension of the Common Foreign Security Policy (CFSP) geared towards ten countries considered fundamental to increase the EU’s global actorness. Although Brazil was not initially in Brussels' sights, the Brazil Country Strategy Paper (2005) and the signing of the SP (2007) would eventually place the country among the EU's main partners.

The creation of this partnership stems from a recognition of the global role that Brazil had been acquiring, evident in its diplomatic activism in forums such as the BRICS. It was also a way of exploring trade relations with Brazil, given the difficulties of reaching an agreement with the Southern Common Market (Mercosur). It was also a way of associating two actors with values based on the defense of multilateralism and human rights.

These factors are linked to the important leadership role that Brazil has taken on in South American regional integration processes, especially since the beginning of the century. As this European recognition has not been awarded to any other country in the region, questions arise about the potential imbalances caused in the relations built by Brazil around its three regional foreign policy circles: the one that takes shape on the Buenos Aires-Brasilia axis and which is the basis of South American regional integration; the one constituted by the Southern Common Market (Mercosur); and the one that corresponds to South America as a de facto region, which until recently functioned de jure in the context of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR).

That said, the Brazilian case is a relevant case study since among the ten SPs established by the EU so far, it is paradigmatic in the use of regional leadership with global objectives. From this point of view, although the SPs were created as an instrument to empower the EU in a changing international scenario, this aspect could reveal the existence of unexpected consequences in some regions of the world.

Given the important recent changes in relations between the EU and Brazil, especially regarding the free trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur, this research aims to understand whether the singularization of Brazil as the EU's preferred partner in South America has had consequences for Brazil's regional positioning. It is a contribution to the general study of the European Union's external action and the potential unforeseen consequences of its Strategic Partnership policy.

This paper presents a discourse analysis of European Union digital diplomacy transmissions in the Philippines relating to the dispute over islands in the South China Sea. Applying the discourse historical approach proposed by Wodak (2009), the paper examines how intra and extra-textual contextual factors, such as political realities and EU policy, shape the regional bloc’s articulations online. The data analyzed indicate that the regional bloc's digital diplomacy articulations on the South China Sea territorial disputes are shaped by the context in which they are produced. Facebook posts on the topic were found to be influenced by intertextual, interdiscursive, and extralinguistic factors. That is to say, the EU’s social media content creators crafted their posts by considering: (1) existing texts and publications that could be referenced in statements; (2) discourses, or ways of thinking, that are part of the EU’s usual repertoire of concepts; and (3) relevant events, such as the Arbitration Award by the UNCLOS Tribunal, high-level meetings between EU and Philippine government officials, and news of Chinese incursions in contested territory. It is argued that even if the European bloc is a non-determinant actor in the conflict, it has continuously published posts on the topic, articulating its position on the matter that is couched in the language of multilateralism and legal norms. Consequently, its positions have generally aligned with Philippine interests.

Digital diplomacy is a relatively new topic in diplomatic studies, and it refers to the pursuit of foreign policy objectives using the internet and social media. Few studies have been published on the ways the EU has used online tools to pursue its interests in the Philippines, and none of them have examined how the European bloc has articulated its views on the territorial dispute between the Philippines and China. This paper attempts to fill this gap in the academic literature, while simultaneously contributing to the scholarly work on EU-Philippine relations, maritime territorial disputes, and digital diplomacy.

The proposed paper discusses the evolving impact of the European Union on global governance, focusing on the air transport sector as a critical case study. Drawing from the intersection of literature on the EU's influence on third countries and international organisations, and the architecture of the rule-making processes, the study explores the presence of an experimentalist turn in the EU's external governance activities. Embedding the economic, environmental, and political dimensions of the aviation sector, the study delves into the blending or clashing of governance elements and assesses the coherence of the EU's approach. Thus, the paper contributes to the substantive understanding of the EU's actions in the domain of international aviation. Additionally, it adds to theoretical discussions on the forms of governance proposed by the EU in response to new societal pressures and challenges.

This proposed paper explores an alternative perspective on the inclusion of labour standards in European policies, employing the concept of experimental governance in European integration. It contends that the expansion of labour standards' competence aligns with the neo-functional model of the European Union's development, characterized by continual competency expansion and growing interdependencies. However, the text argues that promoted labour standards have political and economic elements resulting from processes beyond European decision-makers' influence. Two factors support this argument: the continued responsibility of member states for labour standards and the sociological approach to European integration analysis. The latter emphasizes the Commission's focus on power, prestige, and authority, making power and governance phenomena more noticeable when supranational and intergovernmental integration concepts clash. Ultimately, this alternative perspective calls for a broader analysis of labour standards in the context of multiple approaches. The paper has been based on extensive semi-structured interviews conducted in Brussels, Vietnam, Japan, Singapore, New Zealand, Mexico, South Korea, Canada, and Australia with negotiators or officials involved in EU FTAs negotiations.