Brussels, 18/12/2007 (Agence Europe) - “Officially founded one year ago”, the European-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (Eurolat) “will meet in plenary for the first time”, said Hans-Gert Pöttering, President of the European Parliament, speaking to representatives of the European Parliament and of the regional and national parliaments of Latin America on Tuesday 18 December. This first plenary session of Eurolat since its constitution in November 2006 (see EUROPE 9304) marks the beginning of Parliamentary cooperation between the two regions. Over three days, the members of Eurolat will discuss three reports on climate change, energy, the reduction of poverty and international trade negotiations, with a particular view to the 5th EU-Latin America and Caribbean summit, to be held in Lima in May 2008 (see EUROPE 9523).
Mr Pöttering stressed the importance of regional integration, a subject close to the heart of the Europeans, but without any wish to impose the Community model on the Latin-American partners. “Latin America may take inspiration from the European model of integration and also learn from its failures” to “find its own path”. Together, the EU and Latin America represent “nearly a third of countries represented at the UN, nearly a billion inhabitants and nearly 25% of the world's GNI”, said José Ignacio Salafranca (EPP-ED, Spain), the co-president of Eurolat. Stating the view that the parliamentary assembly institution represents “an important foundation stone in the history” uniting the two regions, he voiced his hopes that this assembly would “help to balance out relations between the EU and Latin America”, which he feels “are based too much on the inter-governmental plank”. In the opinion of Jorge Pizarro Soto, the president of the Latin-American Parliament and co-president of Eurolat, the effectiveness of the young Euro-Latin American parliamentary assembly will depend on the effectiveness of each of its members. Referring to the practical difficulties which blighted the creation of the parliamentary assembly, he lamented the “absence of any Mercosur representation” at this plenary session. The members of the Mercosur parliament had unsuccessfully asked for the number of Latin American members of Eurolat, currently set at 60, to be increased.
Luís Amado, Portuguese Minister for Foreign Affairs, described the meeting as “typical of the attraction” felt by the EU “for the other regions of the world”, and of Latin America “for Europe”. He went on to say that the Lisbon Treaty would help the EU to “go about its relations with the world differently” and constitute “a factor of balance in the international system”. “We have 50 years of experience, which make today's Europe a fundamental point of reference for the countries and regions wishing to accompany us on the road to multilateralism”, he said. The president-in-exercise of the Council of the EU called on the “small and medium-sized states” to get involved and to “concentrate their efforts” in becoming involved and having their say in the process of globalisation. He reminded his audience of the new strategic partnership with Brazil, which was launched in July (see EUROPE 9462). Benita Ferrero-Waldner, European Commissioner for External Relations, praised the “representivity and democratic legitimacy” which are such a feature of Eurolat. She also spoke of “good results” in negotiations underway with the “Andean Community” and Central America, which are hoped to lead to the signing of association agreements (see EUROPE 9447 and 9458)
Speaking on behalf of the Slovenian government, which will take over the presidency of the Council of the EU in the first half of 2008, Matjaž Šinkovec spoke of his country's intention to prepare thoroughly for the Lima summit, which he described as “one of the biggest meetings between the EU and third countries or regions”. As well as political cooperation, the secretary of state for foreign affairs went on to state that Slovenia also hoped to “make progress in the commercial sector”, as the EU has traditionally been one of the major investors (“1.1 billion euros a year”) and donors in Latin America. Luis Humberto Falla Lamadrid, president of the foreign affairs committee of the Peruvian parliament, spoke of his “deep-seated belief” that the two regions would be capable of gaining more together than they would acting separately. Voicing hopes that the fifth EU-Latin America summit would provide the opportunity to “deal with the problems concerning population”, Mr Falla Lamadrid pledged that Peru would welcome those taking part in the summit “with open arms”.
Enrique Iglesias, who leads the Spanish-American Secretariat General, spoke of the recent summit of the Spanish-speaking countries, which led to the adoption of the “first collective social security pact” to cover 22 countries. For the last five years, the favourable economic climate has helped to improve the socio-economic conditions of the South American continent, he pointed out, whilst wondering “how best to distribute wealth” in the absence of the power, at this moment in time, to “defeat poverty”. By developing ambitious tax policies, Ms Ferrero-Waldner suggested. The Portuguese Socialist Manuel António dos Santos welcomed the “decisive role” played by his Spanish colleague Josep Borrell, the former president of the EP, who in spring 2006 made every possible effort for the heads of state and government to give their blessing to the creation of Eurolat at the Euro-Latin American summit of Vienna (see EUROPE 9192). (M.B.)