Long-term connections rooted in reality. The way I see it, my conclusions in yesterday's column on the EU's relations with Latin America were far from negative and were, in fact, highly positive. Leaving rhetoric and unrealistic ambitions to one side, we can pave the way for something that is both reasonable and possible and will therefore lead to closer connections that will last into the long term. It is understandable that countries in the Andean Pact will also be looking to Asia and the Pacific, and that for Central America the big reference point will remain their big neighbour to the north, the United States. But countries that have signed concrete deals with the EU, like Mexico (which doesn't like the idea of only talking with its mammoth northern neighbour) and Chile have hugely developed their economic ties with the EU and further progress is on the cards. At the same time, the countries that set up Mercosur (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay) are generally looking towards Europe, as is shown by the investment and trade flows. The prospects are therefore favourable, as long as one focuses on what it possible and useful, and accepts with good faith the efforts that will be necessary to get over misunderstandings and mutual recrimination.
In Angela Merkel's words. Poetic words about common roots also have their place and MEPs certainly do not hold back there, but we have to move beyond this and talk straight. The EU cannot go beyond certain limits when it comes to opening up its agricultural markets because it cannot turn its back on its territorial balance, traditions, landscape and food autonomy. This does not mean reducing or blocking imports, but rather being able to feed its own population if necessary, a vital precondition for true independence. On the other hand, South American countries, led by Brazil, want to develop competitive industry and services. The demands of both sides should be taken into account, and the first way of doing this would be to reduce some of the Doha Round requirements. I have been defending this argument in my column for a long time. The argument has now been given huge weight because it is being backed by Angela Merkel, who said recently that for the Doha Round to be a success, each side would have to give up its most radical demands, the demands that go too far (see issue 9662 of our newsletter). Who will be the first to declare at the WTO headquarters in Geneva that they agree to this if everyone else follows suit?
The same plain speaking is needed on all the controversial issues, and again, it was Angela Merkel who set an example when she said that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was not a spokesman for Latin America. Chavez reacted in petty, insulting manner and the German Chancellor was right to not deign to reply. But setting such excesses to one side, it is always better to speak plainly rather than make mealy-mouthed or superficial statements of the type that the European Parliament is so keen on.
For this reason, I will quote an interview last week with the international relations spokesman for the party of Brazilian President Lula da Silva, namely Walter Pomar. He said that he was speaking on behalf of his party rather than the Brazilian government, and this enabled him to say what President Lula probably thinks but cannot say in such an outright manner. In an interview with L'Écho on 14 May 2008, Pomar said that the EU's attitude to Latin America was disgusting. He said that the EU was very tough in negotiations, whether bilaterally or with groups of countries, and was at times even more demanding than the United States. He accused the EU of having only one aim - to open up Latin American markets with as little in return as possible. He pointed out that Brazil had played a vital role in the past to prevent a free trade zone being set up that covered the whole of North and South America, including the United States, and Mercosur was now little more than a forum for bureaucracies, suffering from a huge democratic deficit that the politicians were trying to correct by incorporating parties and movements in the process and establishing the Mercosur parliament 'Parlasur', with the aim of creating a Union of South American Nations, UNASUR. If this is the aim, it certainly won't be achieved overnight. Let's stick to the present.
If I understand him right, Pomar is saying that the EU should open up its markets without demanding too much in return. The EU is therefore right to be careful, particularly when it comes to farming. Those in the EU and elsewhere who recognise the call for a global strategy to combat food shortages and to re-launch agriculture have to admit that this strategy's key element cannot be the full opening of the EU's farm market, which is not suffering from any shortages and is the world's biggest importer of farm products and the world's biggest donor of food aid. Who else is prepared to do as much as the EU?
(F.R.)