Brussels conspired yesterday to “open a new page” in relations between the European Union and the countries of Latin America and proposed to the Twenty-seven a roadmap to take cooperation between the two regions to a new level of ambition. “In the current geopolitical context, strengthening the relationship with Latin America and the Caribbean is a strategic imperative for the EU,” defended the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, who lamented that “for too long it has been neglected and taken for granted ” the relationship. Now, he said, “it’s time to move from being natural partners to being partners of choice.”
President Ursula von der Leyen will personally take the message to the region next week, when she is scheduled to go to Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Mexico. The summit of leaders of the EU, Latin America and the Caribbean that will be held in Brussels on July 17 and 18, under the Spanish presidency of the Council, will be the key moment to move forward with proposals and inaugurate that “new era” of relations that The European Commission proposes: the annual organization of summits, the creation of a permanent coordination body and the promotion of different trade agreements.
Brussels is confident that the update of the agreement with Chile will be signed by the end of the year, it hopes that Mexico will give the green light to the renewal proposal shortly and, finally, that this year the ratification of the agreement with Mercosur will be unblocked. It is the agreement with the greatest economic potential, but about which there are still more reservations, for example in France and Austria.
“It will not be easy to approve it, but we must think about the cost of not doing so, for example in terms of the advancement of the Chinese presence,” warns MEP Javi López (PSC), co-president of the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly. Bilateral cooperation, he defends, would counter “the trend towards a bipolar world that leads both of us to the periphery.”
