This week, professors Ana Paula Tostes (LabRI/OIMC), Pablo Saturnino Braga (LABMUNDO/OIMC) and Carlos R. S. Milani (LABMUNDO/OIMC) helped launch the project Autonomy and Multilateral Reconfigurations: EU–Latin America Relations (AURELA) in France, taking part in meetings and seminars organised in Paris and Lyon.

On 29 June, last Monday, the headquarters of the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po) hosted the official event to mark the launch of the project, featuring presentations by the representatives of the Interdisciplinary Observatory on Climate Change team involved in each of the research axis that make up the initiative. In attendance at the launch event were the Director of Sciences Po, Luis Vassy, and the Minister-Counsellor at the Brazilian Embassy, André Dunham Maciel, as well as academics and journalists. Featuring 20 scholars from French and Brazilian institutions, under the coordination of Professors Kevin Parthenay (UT) and Rafael Mesquita (UFPE), AURELA aims to strengthen Franco-Brazilian cooperation in the field of social sciences through the study of the future of relations between the European Union and Latin America, focusing on three main areas: Climate Change and Sustainable Development, Security and Emerging Technologies, and Fundamental Rights and Values.

Between 30 June and 2 July, the Observatory’s delegation concluded its academic mission to France by presenting its research at the 18th Congress of the French Association of Political Science (AFSP). In line with the agenda of the inter-institutional project, the presentations at the Congress were part of two thematic sessions on the reconfiguration of multilateralism and regional autonomy, multilateral climate negotiations, and human rights and democracy, from Latin American and European perspectives.