The EU/CELAC Summit, held in Brussels on Monday 17 and Tuesday 18 July, was an opportunity for the 27 countries of the European Union and the 33 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean to review their bilateral relations in depth, to reaffirm the principles and values underpinning these relations, and to deepen bilateral cooperation on shared priorities such as the fight against climate change, access to strategic resources, investment, security and the fight against social inequalities.
Feeling “a sense of accomplishment”, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, said that the summit had approved an “ambitious declaration”. He highlighted the creation of a permanent “coordination mechanism” between the EU and CELAC, in particular to monitor the implementation of the roadmap setting out a number of high-level events between now and 2025. In addition, summit participants will meet again every 2 years, with the next summit scheduled to take place in Colombia in 2025.
“Our relationship is stronger today”, assured the Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves, whose country holds the pro tempore presidency of CELAC. He raised a number of important issues for Latin America and the Caribbean, such as the reform of the international financial architecture and financial assistance from developed countries to help developing countries deal with climate change.
On this point, he stressed the importance to the Europeans of fulfilling the commitment by developed countries jointly to mobilise promptly $100 billion per year for climate finance to support developing countries, and to double adaptation finance by 2025 (article 23 of the declaration).
Mr Michel underlined the importance as well of developing bi-regional exchanges based on “fair and equitable partnerships” that would have a positive impact on the people of Latin America. It is important that these protocols also benefit the local population, said Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission. In her view, this is also in the interests of Europeans, insofar as it ensures greater predictability in the investments made.
This is the first time that a mechanism has been found to put an end to the large-scale exploitation of Latin America’s natural resources (‘extractivismo’), praised the President of Argentina, Alberto Fernández.
New economic partnerships
As on the previous day (see EUROPE 13224/1), the EU signed sectoral memorandums of understanding with several Latin American countries. This time, it was the case with Uruguay on energy. Both parties are committed to working together to direct investment towards improving energy efficiency and deploying renewable hydrogen, while offering potential investors maximum clarity on financing, both in the EU and in Uruguay.
To see the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Uruguay: https://aeur.eu/f/84u
The EU and Chile have also signed a Memorandum of Understanding on critical raw materials to deepen cooperation and joint investment in the development of sustainable value chains, local value creation, research and innovation to reduce the environmental footprint, bringing environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards up to international standards, vocational training and skills development.
The two partners must now draw up a roadmap detailing the various actions required to put the MoU into practice.
To see the MoU with Chile: https://aeur.eu/f/850
Furthermore, on the subject of raw materials, the EU/CELAC roadmap adopted at the end of the summit mentions the holding of an EU/Latin America Convention on raw materials in 2024 or 2025.
Nicaragua, alone against all
In short, said Mr Michel, “what unites us is stronger than what divides us”. But the divisive issues, notably the position to adopt in the face of Russian military aggression in Ukraine, have given the negotiators a hard time.
On Tuesday, after several days of laborious negotiations during which the Europeans’ ambitions were revised downwards, no less than two meetings of the Member States’ ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) were needed to submit language that all the CELAC countries - except Nicaragua - finally approved.
In its joint declaration, the EU/CELAC summit expressed its “deep concern about the ongoing war against Ukraine”, which is exacerbating the “fragilities” of the global economy, such as “growing food and energy insecurity”. It reiterates its support for the continuation of the UN-brokered Black Sea Grain Initiative (see EUROPE 13225/3) and reaffirms the commitment of the participating countries to the United Nations Charter and international law.
Initially supported by countries such as Cuba and Honduras, Nicaragua is maintaining its reservation on the text. It has voted against the resolutions of the United Nations Assembly, while the EU has sanctioned many of the Ortega regime’s top dignitaries.
Reference to regional crises
Europeans, Latin Americans and Caribbeans also refer to a number of regional crises.
On Venezuela, they encourage the continuation of dialogue between the Maduro regime and the political opposition in the framework of the ‘Mexico City’ process, while an ad hoc meeting was held in the margins of the summit (see EUROPE 13225/2).
The continuing deterioration in the security and humanitarian situation in Haiti is also a source of concern. The EU/CELAC summit called for continued regional and international efforts to help Haitians draw up a roadmap for overcoming the political crisis.
It should be noted that the sixty participating countries are once again calling for the US embargo reimposed on Cuba by the United States under President Trump to be lifted. They claim that naming Havana as a state sponsor of terrorism negatively affects the ability to trade with the Caribbean island.
EU/Mercosur trade agreement
The summit was to be an important opportunity to make progress in the discussions on the EU/Mercosur trade agreement. In their declaration adopted at the end of the meeting, the EU and CELAC leaders simply “take note of the work in progress between the EU and Mercosur”.
The heads of state or government of the EU and Mercosur were more enthusiastic in their speeches. Many of them reaffirmed the desire of the two blocs to conclude the discussions before the end of the year.
On Monday evening, the European Commissioner for Trade, Valdis Dombrovskis, met the foreign affairs ministers of the four Mercosur countries for a meeting lasting around an hour. An opportunity for these representatives to reiterate the importance of having an agreement, which they see as beneficial in many respects.
The ministers of the Mercosur countries had indicated that their counter-proposal to the EU’s additional letter might reach the Europeans in August. Two diplomatic sources have confirmed to EUROPE that such a timetable is plausible, given that the content of the counter-proposal has already been discussed between the four Mercosur countries.
This document should take up the bloc’s concerns about recent EU environmental legislation. “We have found that there are issues we need to address. There has been an EU green deal which has important implications for the agreement”, said Mr Fernández. However, he was optimistic that their concerns would be taken into account in the discussions: “We’re working on it, and I think we’re on the right track”.
This optimism was shared by the German Chancellor. “I am convinced that we have now gained so much momentum, thanks in particular to this meeting, that we can hope that a result will soon be achieved”, said Olaf Scholz, stating that the result reached by the Commission in these discussions will bring the EU27 together.
At the same time as the EU/CELAC Summit, over 50 civil society organisations, including Greenpeace Germany and Friends of the Earth Latin America and the Caribbean, demonstrated outside the European Parliament against the EU/Mercosur agreement, which they consider to be harmful to the planet. They called on the decision-makers to put an end to the negotiations.
To see the declaration of the EU/CELAC summit: https://aeur.eu/f/85n
And the 2023-2025 roadmap: https://aeur.eu/f/85o (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion and Léa Marchal, with Pauline Denys)