Neither surprised nor worried. I am not surprised by the modest results of the Summit between the EU and Latin America which took place last week in Vienna (see EUROPE 9191 and 9192 for reports). Neither surprised nor worried. Contractual relations between the two parties will come up to the extraordinary human and natural potential of Latin America when ambitions correspond to reality and mutual interests. This is not yet quite the case. However trade and investment is continuing to increase: each as doubled over the course of the last five years. That says a lot.
For future developments, some clarification is necessary. Let us consider the draft EU-Mercosur agreement, the most important because it involves Brazil and Argentina in particular. How long has it lain at a standstill? How long have I been calling for a change in its objective? The idea of a free trade area in accordance with WTO rules is unreasonable. Europe cannot completely open its borders in agriculture without compromising the very existence of European agricultural activity, and thus the protection of Nature, biodiversity, territorial balance. At the same time, Brazil cannot accept either full liberalisation of services or equal access to public contracts, or other aspects of the project. Negotiations will not progress as long as ambitions do not correspond to mutual interests. By this I mean, the general interests of the people and the environment and not only the sectoral interests of big business, or of a few massive multinationals and large landowners. I apologise to the readers who have been reading this column for some length of time and who have already heard these points: but they are still necessary because they are never well received, either in political circles where flights of fancy are preferred to reality or in business, and even academic, circles (I am speaking from experience).
The difficulties are not European. For other agreements, difficulties do not come from Europe. The most important regional Community (after Mercosur) the Andine Community, partially split up after the withdrawal of Venezuela and there is doubt over the future intentions of Bolivia. Negotiations should begin soon with the Central American group of countries; we'll see. As for the Caribbean, relations are largely within the framework of the EU-ACP association, which does not prevent account being taken of regional particularities, and so strengthening of specific relations. Elsewhere, the two bilateral agreements, EU-Mexico and EU-Chile, are working properly.
The value of formal ceremonies. Do Summits have any real meaning in this context? It's possible, because even great ceremonies of this sort can have their political uses. It is true that the newcomer to the scene, new Bolivian President Evo Morales, told the European Parliament after the Vienna ceremony they he was astonished to discover that everything had been prepared in advance and that nothing could be changed (see EUROPE 9193). It is true also that the majority of the 59 paragraphs of the “Vienna Declaration” are made up of repetitive statements like, democracy is a universal value, racism is not compatible with democracy, the creation of a UN Human Rights Council is a positive step, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction is a threat to peace, terrorist acts must be condemned, there must be cooperation in the fight against drugs, etc. It is possible that it is sometimes of use to repeat these banalities that everyone agrees with. Our readers will judge, because the full text of the declaration will feature in the next edition of our EUROPE/Documents series.
And what about oil? It is possible that the most significant events of the Summit are not part of the final declaration, because they are related to matters of the moment. I am thinking particularly of the meetings between French President Jacques Chirac and several European Prime Ministers with the new Bolivian President, and of the already mentioned speech by Evo Morales to the European Parliament. In the chapter on energy, the Vienna Declaration says that, while recognising the sovereign right of countries to manage and regulate their natural resources, cooperation will continue and be enhanced with a view to establishing a balanced commercial framework and compatible regulatory regimes. What Mr Morales said in Strasbourg appeared to be moving in the same direction. We'll see. This is where the real urgency is.
(F.R.)