Documents on investments and energy issues were signed. Without the endorsement of Nicaragua, there was a consensus on the Russian invasion.
The summit between the European Union and Celac that closed on Tuesday afternoon left concrete announcements of european investments and bilateral agreements on energy matters with various countries.
On Tuesday the debate got stuck because the diplomats could not agree on a joint statement on the Russian aggression against Ukraine. Finally, the European presidency and that of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) signed a joint text because beyond the reluctance of some countries to the final draft, Nicaragua refused to give its proval.
The summit also leaves the promise not to let eight years pass until the next conclave, which should be held in Colombia in 2025.
Beyond specific announcements and official statements, the words of the main political figures in Latin America left Europe with a sign of underlying discomfort, a complaint about an unbalanced relationship in favor of the old world that would only seek the new world selfishly despite the fact that they are the two continents that are most similar in essence, in democracy and respect for human rights and the rule of law.
unite against china
The President of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, set the tone for the Europeans at the start of the formal meeting on Monday: “Latin America and the Caribbean and Europe need each other. Much more than ever.” Because right now? “Because of the growing assertiveness of China,” acknowledged the president of the executive arm of the European Union.
Europe does not want to lose more weight in Latin America compared to Chinawith whom he believes he is competing with one hand behind his back because the Chinese do not go around the world demanding respect for their own environmental standards or asking that their human rights and civil liberties standards be global.
European diplomats recalled this Monday that on some issues of civil liberties many Latin American countries are ahead of some Europeans such as Poland or Hungary.
brazilian president Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva gave the first powerful speech on Monday: “We need an association that puts an end to the international division of labor that condemns Latin America and the Caribbean to supply raw materials and poorly paid and discriminated labor.”
With a friendly tone, Lula was firm before some European leaders who for many years forgot the relationship with Latin America.
This summit occurs mainly because two Spaniards have been dedicated to it for a year. Taking advantage of the fact that Spain assumed the semi-annual presidency of the European Union on July 1, the Spanish president Pedro Sanchez began to talk about the matter with his colleagues in Latin America for more than a year.
At the same time, the head of European diplomacy, the Spaniard with an Argentine passport Josep Borrell, son of Mendoza, forced the European bureaucratic machinery to get to work on holding this summit and update relationship.
Borrell acknowledged on Monday that Europeans “have not paid enough attention to Latin America.” The Dutchman Mark Rutte went so far as to say that the Europeans had been “arrogant”.
Many are beginning to realize that when they demand to add annexes on environmental protection to countries like Brazil, as if Jair Bolsonaro were still in power, what they are doing is looking for excuses for not ratifying trade agreements like the Mercosur-EU, which they fear competition from the Latin American agricultural sector.
Energy and migration policies
Europe is looking now and not only from Madrid and Lisbon because in Latin America there are essential resources for your energy transitionlike the lithium that will be needed for the batteries of hundreds of millions of cars, trucks and buses.
The president of Colombia Gustavo Petro asked his progressive government partners to make and defend migration policies different from those of the right and to change the world financial system so that it is cable of sustain the energy policies that the ecological transition needs.
The Argentine Alberto Fernandez, who also spoke in Monday’s plenary session, raised the issue of the external debt, which makes Europeans uncomfortable, and recalled that “an association requires that all parties benefit; if that is not fulfilled, it is not an association”.
The Chilean Gabriel Boric asked that the relationship not be limited to the economic and commercial part (many officials from Latin America, when they arrive in Brussels, only see officials in charge of Trade, rarely those who deal with more political matters) but that it grow “a higher level of agreement in all dimensions, also political and social”.
The EU-Mercosur agreement
The agreement between the European Union and Mercosur is still stuck four years after it was agreed at a political level.
Nobody expected that this summit would unravel, but both the European side and the Mercosur side assured on Tuesday that they have the determination to do so.
Von der Leyen said on Monday that he wants to close it this year. The European Commissioner for Trade, Valdis Dombrovskis, met with Foreign Ministers Santiago Cafiero (Argentina), Mauro Vieira (Brazil), Julio Arriola (Paraguay) and Francisco Bustillo (Uruguay).
The declaration that closes the summit underlines the will to move towards an agreement.
Brussels, special
BC
Source: Clarin
