Based on a field research, consisting in an ethnography of the European External Affairs office of a leading multinational company and sociological interviews with European Union institutions employees, this communication proposes to explore the role of the private sector as export-agent from the United Nations to European agendas. More specifically, we focus on the specific position of the employees of the European office of the studied firm as they seek to incorporate priorities and narratives from a global framework into the European Commission agenda and policy priorities. While observing how the public and private sphere interlock, this paper ambitions to better understand the transnational circulation of discourses.
Agenda setting and social problems literature considers the roles of organized groups and their attempts to contribute to the construction of social problems, most of the time from public institutions’ point of view. Adopting a micro approach and considering the everyday work of this small group of employees based in Brussels, what contribution do they make to the adoption of the UN Sustainable Development Goals by the European Commission? This paper explores how the investment of transnational and “global” issues contributes to the legitimation of the actors observed, both towards the European Commission and the top-level management of their company.
We analyse their helping the European Commission align its own internal and external policies and actions with the objectives of the UN Agenda, thus positioning the company as a key ally of EU institutions in implementing those global goals. Offering an insight on a global private company’s perspective, we try to jointly analyse the importation activities and importers’ resources but also their retribution mechanisms – be it for the firm, the Brussels office and its employees.
