Brussels, 24/04/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday 24 April, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the priorities of the EU-Latin America and Caribbean (EU-LAC) summit in May, namely the fight against poverty, social insertion, sustainable development and the fight against climate change (see EUROPE 9649). The EP calls on the Lima summit to discuss the global food crisis and to set out possible solutions, and calls for the release of hostages held by the revolutionary armed forces of Colombia (FARC). An amendment by the EPP-ED Group calling on the Council to envisage including the Peruvian revolutionary movement, Tupac Amaru, in the list of EU terrorist organisations was rejected by a very slim margin.
The EP calls for the Lima agenda on eradicating poverty and exclusion to include a limited series of clear, concrete and verifiable commitments. Special attention should be granted to the situation of indigenous populations. The Parliament recommends the participation of Latin American countries in Community programmes in areas such as education, training and scientific cooperation. On the subject of immigration, it suggests systematic political dialogue in order to foresee ways to promote the movement of persons and the creation of an observatory on migratory flows. Taking the view that the poor are the first victims of climate change, the EP recommends a Euro-Latin American alliance to promote sustainable development and to work towards accession to the Kyoto Protocol by countries that emit large quantities of greenhouse gases but do not yet belong. It invites the Latin-American countries, when opinions differ, not to block initiatives such as integration of the aviation sector in measures to combat climate change.
MEPs suggest a strategic vision for relations between the EU and Latin America and the Caribbean that, in the run up to 2012, would bring about the creation of a Euro-Latin American global interregional partnership area. Two phases are foreseen to achieve this objective: - the first involves the conclusion, as swiftly as possible, of association agreements with Mercosur, the Andean Community and the Central American countries, consolidating existing bilateral agreements with Mexico and Chile; - and, secondly, by 2012, the conclusion of a global interregional partnership agreement. Finally, the EP supports the Latin American request to increase from 120 to 150 the number of members of the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly in order to facilitate inclusion of the Mercosur parliament into EUROLAT (Euro-Latin American Assembly). (M.B.)