This timely book investigates the EU’s multi-faceted development as a global actor, unpacking its legal mission to be a ‘good’ actor as well as exploring the complexities of fulfilling this objective. It elicits critical reflections on the question of ‘goodness’ in EU external relations from descriptive, analytical and normative perspectives, and examines which metrics of actorness are useful in tackling this subject. Featuring contributions from more than 20 leading EU scholars and emerging voices, the book develops four themes through which it advances a research agenda for the study of the EU as a good global actor. The book begins by unpacking the complexities of the EU as a global trade actor, before discussing ‘good’ trade governance and a deeper trade agenda, the issue of data governance in digital trade and in other regulatory frameworks, and finally the institutional dimension of EU actorness. Understanding the EU as a Good Global Actor will be a crucial read for scholars and students in EU law and politics, particularly those with an interest in EU governance, trade and external relations. It will also prove useful for policy makers both within and outside the EU.

Table of Contents:
Contents: Introduction: understanding the EU as a good global actor: whose metrics? 1 Elaine Fahey and Isabella Mancini PART I THE COMPLEXITIES OF THE EU AS A GLOBAL ACTOR IN TRADE 1 Europe’s power surplus: legal empathy and the trade/ regulation nexus 19 Ignacio Garcia Bercero and Kalypso Nicolaïdis, 2 Leverage in trade agreements and linkages – challenges to the trade and rights linkages 37 Maria Garcia 3 Market Power Europe? Exporting EU disciplines on domestic services regulations through trade agreements 53 Billy Melo Araujo 4 Environmental allies and trade competitors: a comparative analysis of US and EU governance models for the trade-and-climate nexus 74 Jean-Baptiste Velut PART II ON ‘GOOD’ TRADE GOVERNANCE: THE EMERGING AMBITIONS AND VALUES OF A DEEPER TRADE AGENDA 5 The role of values in EU external relations: a legal assessment of the EU as a ‘good’ global actor 92 Ramses A. Wessel and Yuliya Kaspiarovich 6 The EU acting through free trade agreements: the case of sustainability and public procurement 107 Martin Trybus 7 The role of the EU in making ‘sustainable’ labour linkages in contemporary trade: is being ‘assertive’ also ‘good’? 124 Tonia Novitz 8 The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism and the challenge of being a ‘good’ climate and trade actor 141 Eva Pander Maat 9 Empowering women in trade: how gender responsive are the EU’s trade agreements? 158 Clair Gammage PART III ON ‘GOOD’ DATA GOVERNANCE: THE EMERGING AMBITIONS AND VALUES IN DATA FLOWS 10 The emperor’s new clothes – data privacy and cybersecurity from a European perspective 176 Jörg Polakiewicz 11 The EU’s trade policy on cross-border data flows in the global landscape: navigating the thin line between liberalizing digital trade, ‘digital sovereignty’ and multilateralism 192 Svetlana Yakovleva 12 Comparing the EU’s and China’s approaches in data governance 209 Xuechen Chen and Xinchuchu Gao PART IV THE EU INSTITUTIONAL DIMENSION OF ‘GOOD’ TRADE GOVERNANCE 13 Democratization of good global governance: the EU’s role in the parliamentarization of trade policy 227 Wolfgang Weiss 14 The EU as a good global actor in international economic relations: the role of parliaments 245 Ewa Żelazna 15 The approach of the CJEU to international law: towards a context-specific approach 261 Eva Kassoti and Graham Butler 16 Sustainable development chapters in EU FTAs and dispute settlement: lessons learned from Ukraine – Wood Products and Korea – Labour Rights 277 Gesa Kübek Index