Like all United Nations agreements, States are free to define concretely how to achieve the goals set, but unlike more generic programmes adopted in the past– Millennium Goals– SDGs are much more concrete and measurable: 17 goals, 169 targets and 230 indicators, and provide for their «localization» through a national plan of action. In the case of Spain, this plan was approved in 2018 and establishes that the commitment of citizens, actors and public administrations to Agenda 2030 constitutes a «state policy». In this way, a process of integration (policy integration) of these global commitments in the domestic sphere, based on the orientation of the efforts of all actors towards the achievement of the SDGs, is promoted, the use of a common working methodology and its adaptation to the local context (for example, at the university).

These complex processes of multilevel governance and public policy targeting (output-Oriented) make their development increasingly sophisticated and dependent on expert knowledge, networks and the use of strategic management tools. That is why this article in the Public Agenda focuses, among other things, on the importance of measuring more clearly which indicators are achieved and which ones. In this respect, this report by the European Parliament’s research service effectively aims to strengthen political visibility and the connection between the different SDGs, instead of entrusting the scope of the indicators to strictly technical measures.

This issue clearly links up with discussions on the nature of the EU as a global player; it contributes to governing or accelerating globalisation; and on the effects of global transformations on European societies. To what extent do the SDGs contribute to compensating the losers of globalisation in Europe? Or are they a project of a neoliberal nature, as this report from a group of experts and activists on global health points out?