This Tuesday the summit between the European Union and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) ended in Brussels. Among the agreements reached: more European investment, or support for the peace process in Colombia. Achievements that were marred by a final declaration that expressed “concern” about “the war against Ukraine” but avoided condemning the Russian invasion, after arduous negotiations that did not reach a consensus with Nicaragua.
The long disputes over the condemnation of the Russian invasion, due to the fact that Nicaragua did not agree to mention Ukraine in the text, eclipsed the important announcement of an investment of 50,000 million dollars in Latin America, with which the European Union intends to stop the growing commercial influence of China.
However, the fact that the EU can speak on behalf of all the countries that make it up is the most important difference when engaging in discussions with other blocs, as was the case with the 33 CELAC countries, whose members exclusively defended their nations, according to the analysis of Christopher Sabatini, researcher for Latin America at the Chatham House Center for Analysis in London.
“We have seen a big difference between the two regions. The European Union has a structure, compared to that of the 33 countries that make up CELAC. In the end, CELAC showed its fundamental difficulties. A free trade agreement can be agreed between Mercosur (Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil) and the EU. Those that are not on the map, Bolivia, Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela. The message is clear: Europe is going to collaborate with countries that have all the transparent rules of the market, which coincide with Europe’s concerns and Europe’s commitments”, assured Sabatini.
Other key points of this summit have been “full support” for the peace process in Colombia and the dialogue for free elections in Venezuela. A whole ball of political oxygen, at a time when many Latin American leaders have very low levels of approval in their countries, which would have prevented this meeting as in years past, when Bolsonaro was president of Brazil.
“The EU has embraced the ambitious Petro project plan, it is a very important sign of international support,” said Sabatini. “President Macron’s initiative on the tragic situation in Venezuela is also important to negotiate some kind of solution. In the end, Europe can lead in a better way than the United States, because of the sanctions they have imposed on the region, because of Trump’s pressure, or because of their behavior with Venezuela.”
After the Brussels summit, Europe seeks to make up for lost time in its relations with Latin America, and intends to unblock the free trade agreement with Mercosur this year, under negotiation for more than two decades.
