After years of oblivion and disinterest that other global actors – read China – have taken full advantage of to expand their influence in the region, the European Union will today turn its gaze towards Latin America and the Caribbean with the celebration of the first summit of heads of State and Government of the two blocs since the distant 2015.
The preparations for the meeting have been laborious and, at the last minute, even contentious due to Europe’s attempt to include in the final statement of the meeting a condemnation of the war in Ukraine and the subsequent response to the ‘ European draft sent by CELAC (the Community of States of Latin America and the Caribbean), which put the legacy of slavery on the table and demands the payment of reparations. The presence of more than fifty heads of state and government from both sides of the Atlantic today in Brussels is, however, taken as clear proof of the mutual interest in taking the relationship to a new level.
“There are many more things that unite us than that separate us,” says a senior European official involved in the negotiations for the summit declaration with optimism. The ambassadors of the Twenty-seven met this weekend to review the document and consult the Latin American representatives, but the text has not yet been agreed upon.
European diplomats have tried to save the cited pitfalls by seconding themselves in statements signed by almost all the countries of both blocs at the United Nations: on the one hand the condemnations of the Russian aggression and, on the other, the declaration from Durban. Following each other in the UN action plan against racism, the negotiators have agreed on a text that, for the first time in this kind of summit, mentions slavery. The EU, on the other hand, is waiting for CELAC’s response to its proposed text on the war in Ukraine and the expression used to comment on the situation (condemn, regret, express concern …). The atmosphere in Brussels is one of optimism, but “in the end everything will depend on Ortega’s mood”, say community sources in allusion to the Nicaraguan leader’s possible veto. The reference to trade and the kind of call for dialogue in Venezuela is also pending agreement, diplomatic sources add.
Although Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky specifically asked to participate in some way in the summit, his host, Charles Michel, President of the European Council, has concluded that it was better not to invite him. However, “Ukraine will occupy a prominent place during the leaders’ discussions”, affirm European diplomatic sources; for example, in the framework of discussions on food security. In addition, the summit will be “an opportunity to listen to our Celac partners on how to put an end to the aggression”, say Bastint Ponts.
The level of political energy invested in bringing this summit forward – which will be inaugurated today in the framework of a large business forum by the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen; the president of Brazil, Luis Inázio Lula Da Silva, and the president of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, as a representative of the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU – evidences the urgency of the Twenty-seven to turn the neglected bilateral relationship into a strategic alliance at the height of the geopolitical changes taking place in the world.
With the war in Ukraine, Europe has suddenly found itself in need of allies in the so-called Global South, forced to accelerate its energy transition to finish cutting ties with Russia and, at the same time, reluctant to be caught in the struggle between the United States and China. In this context, “paying more attention to the region makes a lot of sense” now that the EU seeks to “diversify our value chains and reduce our excessive dependencies, working with reliable partners”, defends the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, one of the driving forces behind this attempt to make the region a priority for the entire EU and not just for Spain or Portugal.
These countries are “fundamental” in the fight against climate change and are a world power in biodiversity, renewable energy and strategic raw materials, but “the region does not want to return to the past” but “take advantage of these transitions to industrialize and add value to its exports”, says the high representative of the EU’s Foreign Policy and vice-president of the Commission on his blog. In this sense, the EU is working with Latin America to fill the Global Gateway Investment Agenda with content, endowed with 10,000 million euros that will be completed with national and private sector contributions. The production of green hydrogen in Brazil and Chile, a new framework for cooperation on sustainable value chains and raw materials in Argentina and Uruguay or the manufacture of electric buses are some of the projects being worked on.
The summit will not address in detail the commercial pacts currently under negotiation, but of the three that are in force, only the update of the EU-Chile agreement is well underway and has entered the final phase. Despite the commitment of the President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, to Von der Leyen, with whom he met in June, to modernize the agreement before the end of the year, his Government has not yet responded to the European proposal. Even more complicated is the pact with Mercosur, which was closed in 2019 but is blocked by both parties (Brazil, France and Austria continue to put a damper on it).
On the other hand, it is intended to create a permanent coordination mechanism between the EU and CELAC to organize summits every two years, in addition to ministerial and technical meetings. Diplomatic sources maintain that the change in the EU’s outlook is genuine and will survive the departure of Borrell or the end of the Spanish presidency of the Council, driving the appointment together with Argentina. We remember the visits of Von der Leyen, Michel and numerous European commissioners, the tour of the region by the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, or a more informal but significant indicator: while traditionally only four countries intervened in the debates on Latin America, in the At the last summit, twenty-three leaders took part.
