Written by Marc Jütten.
The long-awaited summit between the EU and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) took place in Brussels on 17-18 July 2023, under the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU. Expectations were high in the run-up to the summit, the first one in 8 years. Negotiations on the wording to use in the final declaration as regards Russia’s war against Ukraine, colonial history, economic exploitation and slavery, overshadowed the meeting. The declaration– highlighting a series of issues on which the two regions agreed to cooperate – was endorsed by all countries except Nicaragua, which did not agree with the paragraph on Ukraine. No substantial progress was made on the envisaged association agreements with Chile, Mercosur and Mexico.
Background
Against the background of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, China’s emergence as a key player in Latin America, the EU’s quest for fresh suppliers of resources, such as lithium and green hydrogen, and its attempt to foster alliances in a polarised world, this year’s summit was a window of opportunity to relaunch the EU-CELAC strategic partnership. Preparations for the summit were well underway in 2022: the EU-CELAC Meeting of Foreign Affairs Ministers in Buenos Aires relaunched on 27 October 2022 the high-level political dialogue between the two regions and endorsed a bi-regional roadmap as a tangible sign of a forward-looking and positive agenda. HR/VP Borrell and the European Commission adopted a joint communication on 7 June 2023 setting out a new agenda for EU-CELAC relations. The aim was to strengthen the two parties’ strategic partnership through reinforced political engagement, increased trade and more sustainable investment through the Global Gateway connectivity strategy. CELAC and the EU are considered to be in principle two broadly compatible partners – in particular as regards their shared ambition for a green energy transition. However, their relations face a number of challenges, among them CELAC countries’ predominantly neutral position on Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, as well as concerns i) regarding the possible impact of the EU’s Green Deal legislation on, for instance, CELAC exports to the EU; and ii) the EU’s sustainability and human rights approach. Moreover, many CELAC countries consider China a reliable partner, while the EU sees it as a partner, economic competitor and a systemic rival.
Outcome of the summit
Key topics discussed at the summit included enhanced cooperation in multilateral fora, global peace and stability, trade and investment, economic recovery, efforts to combat climate change, research and innovation, and justice and security for citizens. The EU unveiled its Global Gateway Investment Agenda for Latin America and the Caribbean and pledged to invest €45 billion, until 2027, in the delivery of projects in the LAC region in four key areas: a fair green transition, an inclusive digital transformation, human development and health resilience and vaccines. Other deliverables included:
- a pledge to hold an EU-CELAC summit every 2 years, with the next summit scheduled for 2025 as outlined in the EU-CELAC Roadmap 2023 to 2025;
- a pledge to step up clean and renewable energy cooperation with Argentina and Uruguay, sealed with the signing of two memoranda of understanding (MoUs);
- the signing of a MoU with Chile to strengthen cooperation on sustainable critical raw materials supply chains;
- a pledge to release €10 million to tackle the unprecedented humanitarian crisis in Haiti;
- signed MoUs with Honduras, El Salvador and Ecuador on bilateral relations focussing on climate change and the digital agenda;
- an agreement between the EU Member States to sign the Post-Cotonou Agreement (which also covers the Caribbean states);
- a pledge for an EIB loan of €300 million to Banco Santander Brasil for small-scale solar energy investment;
- a pledge for EIB financing for climate action projects in Chile worth over €300 million, including a first-ever green mortgage loan outside Europe.
The drafting of the joint declaration for the summit reportedly produced considerable unease between the two sides. The CELAC countries insisted on toning down or even removing all references to the war in Ukraine, as well as demanding reparations over colonial occupation. Finally, all leaders– except Nicaragua– agreed on a declaration expressing deep concern over the ongoing war against Ukraine, without mentioning Russia. A 41-paragraphs-long communiqué touched on a broad variety of issues such as climate change, reform of the international financial architecture, and the need for action towards achieving inclusive sustainable development.
Leaders recognised parliamentary diplomacy as an important dimension of EU-CELAC relations and commended the constructive role played by the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (EuroLat) and the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly. They furthermore welcomed the progress being made towards the signing of the modernised EU-Chile Advanced Framework Agreement and the EU-Mexico Global Agreement while taking note of the ongoing work between the EU and Mercosur. On the margins of the summit, the foreign affairs ministers of the Mercosur countries (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay), and European Commission Executive Vice-President, Valdis Dombrovskis, met and reaffirmed their determination to work towards the conclusion of the EU-Mercosur agreement by the end of 2023. However, except for the political declarations of intent no concrete progress was made. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said that the EU would soon receive a counter-proposal to its proposal for an additional instrument to address environmental concerns.
In a meeting held on 17 July on the sidelines of the summit, the presidents of France, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, the EU’s HR/VP Borrell and envoys representing both the government and the opposition in Venezuela discussed the political crisis in the country. The four presidents together with HR/VP Borrell urged the Venezuelan government and opposition to agree on a common approach for holding free elections recognised by the international community. HR/VP Borrell renewed his offer to send an EU electoral observation mission (EOM).
In the words of the European Council President, Charles Michel, the summit was a ‘political success’, while the European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, called it ‘a new beginning for old friends’. St Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister and CELAC pro tempore President, Ralph Gonsalves, described it as a ‘historic gathering’ and stressed that there were many actions to follow up. Some experts saw the resumption of EU-CELAC summits as a promising step towards a strengthened dialogue, but criticised the lack of concrete agreements and projects. A litmus test for the EU-CELAC relations will be whether the partners manage to finalise the three pending key international agreements (Mercosur, Mexico and Chile) soon.
European Parliament’s position
The Eurolat Bureau agreed at its meeting of 3 July 2023 on a joint statement by the Eurolat Co-Chairs, Javi López and Oscar Dário Pérez, to address the summit. Amongst others, the statement focused on the importance of concluding pending bilateral trade and association agreements and on revitalising multilateralism.
Parliament’s President, Roberta Metsola, attended the EU-CELAC Summit, stressing on behalf of the Parliament the importance of making constructive improvements to the trade deals with Chile, Mexico and Mercosur, while also underlining the need to address sustainability and environmental concerns at all stages of this process. Moreover, President Metsola announced that the Parliament had taken the decision to open an antenna office in the LAC region to further invigorate an already active parliamentary democracy debate and inter-parliamentary EU-CELAC exchanges. Finally, she informed that the Parliament was expecting that the summit participants would condemn Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, recalling in particular that no discussions on Ukraine should take place in Ukraine’s absence, and that peace in Ukraine needs to come with territorial integrity. On the margins of the summit, President Metsola held meetings with Brazil’s President Lula da Silva, Ecuador’s President Guillermo Lasso, and Uruguay’s President Luis Lacalle Pou. At the time of writing, the 15th plenary session of the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (EuroLat) is taking place in Madrid from 24 to 27 July.