Brussels, 12/06/2015 (Agence Europe) - Meeting for their seventh bilateral summit, on the sidelines of the EU-Latin America and Caribbean summit on Friday 12 June, the leaders of the EU and Mexico reaffirmed their resolve to launch, in 2015, the process of starting negotiations for the modernisation of the comprehensive agreement that has governed bilateral political and trade cooperation since 2000.
“We want to see our relationship reach its full strategic potential. This modernised agreement will be a stronger foundation for taking our partnership forward because it will be far more ambitious and comprehensive”, European Council President Donald Tusk told press at the end of the summit.
The EU and Mexico also agreed to take on wider global responsibility together and to strengthen their political dialogue on regional and global issues of common interest - such as climate change and the environment, the post-2015 agenda for sustainable development, peace-keeping operations, the fight against drugs trafficking and organised crime, and migration.
The EU and Mexico are linked by an agreement of economic partnership, political coordination and cooperation - known as a comprehensive agreement - that was concluded in 1997 and entered into force in 2000. This agreement includes trade arrangements developed in a free trade agreement that entered into force in 2000 for trade in goods, and in 2001 for trade in services. It also includes chapters on access to government procurement, competition, intellectual property rights and investment.
With regard to trade, the two parties want to modernise the comprehensive agreement by extending it to other areas - such as energy, trade facilitation and sustainable development (see EUROPE 11312). On the EU side, the objective is to make of it a comparable agreement to the free trade agreement concluded at the end of 2014 with Canada (CETA). On the Mexican side, it is about “being aligned with what the North American - Canadian and US - partners do with the EU”, said Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto. “The EU is the second biggest investor in Mexico and our third biggest trading partner. As the EU has negotiated an agreement with Canada, and is negotiating an agreement with the US - which are our most important strategic partners - it would be an oversight not to modernise our comprehensive agreement”, he said.
As regards the human rights situation in Mexico, Pena Nieto told the European leaders of the “high priority” of this issue. “In the agreement that we will make with the EU, Mexico is committed to this being an area in which the Mexican government will deepen its work”, he stated, underlining the effectiveness of general Mexican law for protecting the victims of a criminal act and their families. He also spoke about the effectiveness of a programme for the defence of human rights, which establishes commitments at the level of Mexican state bodies.
In addition, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told Pena Nieto of the EU's efforts for an agreement with Mexico on the transfer of air passenger data (PNR). “At the General Affairs Council on 23 June, the Commission will be given a mandate to proceed to negotiations - but we will not be able to finalise this PNR agreement with Mexico unless the Court of Justice gives a decision on the draft PNR agreement with Canada”, he said. (Emmanuel Hagry)