European Union-Latin American relations

Histora de las relaciones entre México y Europa, de la independencia a la actualidad. La importancia de la relación para ambas partes sigue,
desde la Independencia hasta hoy, una trayectoria de descenso interrumpida de
forma intermitente por episodios de coincidencia y acercamiento. El contexto
bipolar de la Guerra Fría no fue favorable a la reconstrucción de las relaciones,
marcadas por la falta de convergencia en las agendas de las dos partes.
Desde finales de los setenta —añaden los estudiosos—, la reactivación de
la relación con España, su democratización y europeización y la incorporación
de México a la economía global sólo permitieron frenar la tendencia de alejamiento,
sin revertirla. La institucionalización de las relaciones México-Unión
Europea, con el Tratado de Asociación de 1998, fue la cúspide de este reacercamiento,
pero no dio todos los frutos que se esperaban de él. Fuertes inercias
internas y regionales continúan alejando a ambos socios y dejan en claro que
la relación ocupa un lugar secundario entre las prioridades de unos y otros, y
que la agenda común se mantiene por debajo de su importancia potencial.

By looking at the current social, economic and political trends in Latin America and the Caribbean and at recent developments in the EU’s relation with the region, this study explores windows of opportunity for advancing the EU-Latin American strategic partnership. It is argued that, although asymmetries between Europe and Latin America might impact and diminish the bi-regional relationship, the EU is well-positioned to play a more active role in Latin America by strengthening existing institutional links, such as the strategic bi-regional partnership between the EU and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the Euro-Latin America Parliamentary Assembly (EuroLat). The study concludes with tailor-made recommendations in order to advance the EU’s engagement and cooperation with individual Latin American countries and with the region as a whole, both through traditional cooperative channels and through closer parliamentary links within the framework of EuroLat.

La base de datos Kalué ("fruto", en lengua Kogian), es una herramienta electrónica, que permite a las instituciones, estudiantes y operadores de la cooperación acceder de manera ágil y sencilla a documentos que describen y sintetizan la riqueza de las relaciones Unión Europea -América Latina en el contexto de la cooperación internacional para el desarrollo, durante los últimos quince años.

El argumento central de este capítulo es que para Chile, uno de los países con más tratados de libre comercio suscritos en el mundo y con una política exterior asumida
gran parte de las veces como sinónimo de política comercial, es determinante la relación bilateral con la UE. Incluso a pesar de la crisis económico-financiera que afecta a la zona euro y no obstante la emergencia —y, en algunos casos, consolidación— de los mercados asiáticos como principales socios comerciales para el país sudamericano1. Con todo, tanto la UE como Chile deben adoptar medidas para profundizar el vínculo con el fin de adaptarse a los cambios del escenario global. Sus lazos en la dimensión política y en cooperación han tenido un largo desarrollo, pues la UE y sus miembros jugaron un papel importante durante el proceso de recuperación y consolidación democrática en Chile.

Frente al aparente fin del ciclo inter-regionalista de la asociación estratégica y la incertidumbre que se cierne en las relaciones entre la UE y América Latina y el Caribe (ALC), este trabajo pretende explorar en qué medida es posible plantearse una mayor cooperación en materia de seguridad entre ambas regiones.
Así, tras hacer una revisión de las relaciones inter-regionales UE-ALC en los que se ha abordado la temática de seguridad y defensa, a partir de una aportación teórica reciente en los estudios sobre securitización, se pretende analizar en qué medida se abre una ventana de oportunidad para fortalecer los lazos en materia de seguridad entre la Unión Europea y América Latina.

La base de datos Kalué ("fruto", en lengua Kogian), es una herramienta electrónica, que permite a las instituciones, estudiantes y operadores de la cooperación acceder de manera ágil y sencilla a documentos que describen y sintetizan la riqueza de las relaciones Unión Europea -América Latina en el contexto de la cooperación internacional para el desarrollo, durante los últimos quince años.

While Latin America’s trade with China is flourishing again, and China’s government is courting Latin America, the European Union risks being outpaced. This is demonstrated by new cooperation initiatives within the framework of the second China–CELAC forum, which took place in Santiago de Chile on 21–22 January 2018. By contrast, the third summit between the European Union and CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States), originally scheduled for October 2017, was postponed indefinitely. Europe should take the Chinese challenge in Latin America more seriously, and the European Union should engage more with Latin America and develop a clear strategy. Concluding and improving upon free trade and cooperation agreements with Latin America should be a high priority. Latin American and Caribbean governments are interested in creating a win-win situation and cooperating with both China and Europe. China is not displacing Europe in Latin America, but it is expanding into areas v...

While Latin America’s trade with China is flourishing again, and China’s government is courting Latin America, the European Union risks being outpaced. This is demonstrated by new cooperation initiatives within the framework of the second China–CELAC forum, which took place in Santiago de Chile on 21–22 January 2018. By contrast, the third summit between the European Union and CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States), originally scheduled for October 2017, was postponed indefinitely. Europe should take the Chinese challenge in Latin America more seriously, and the European Union should engage more with Latin America and develop a clear strategy. Concluding and improving upon free trade and cooperation agreements with Latin America should be a high priority. Latin American and Caribbean governments are interested in creating a win-win situation and cooperating with both China and Europe. China is not displacing Europe in Latin America, but it is expanding into areas vacated by the European Union.

Resumen:

Este artículo se centra en la dimensión institucional de las relaciones Unión Europea-América Latina, más que en su evolución y contenido. Para ello se intenta esbozar un marco explicativo basado en la noción de interregionalismo, y en el alcance de los procesos regionalistas que la conforman. A continuación se examinan las distintas plataformas y canales institucionales, y los marcos jurídicos que definen su alcance y contenido. Finalmente, se analiza la propuesta de asociación estratégica lanzada en 1999 por los jefes de Estado y de Gobierno, planteando vías para que dicha asociación supere algunas de las limitaciones de su diseño institucional.

Abstract:

This article is concerned less with the development and nature of the relationship between the European Union and Latin America than with its institutional dimension. To this end, the author offers an explicative framework based on the notion of interregionalism and on the scope of the respective regional processes. Next, he analyzes the different institutional platforms and channels, together with the judicial framework that determines their scope and content. Finally, he analyzes the 1999 proposal for a strategic association, suggesting ways in which this association could overcome some of the limitations of its institutional design.

“The impact of Eastern Enlargement on the European Union’s foreign policy towards Latin America and the Caribbean (2004-2016)”*

ABSTRACT: In the late 1990s, the advanced process of Eastern enlargement motivated the emergence of a debate regarding the future of the EU’s foreign policy towards Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Widespread views affirmed that, as a result of the accession of Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs), the EU would become less interested in fostering relations with LAC. Opposing views argued that the EU’s enlargement towards the East entailed more opportunities than risks from a Latin American standpoint. This contribution is aimed at examining how, if at all, EU Eastern enlargement affected EU foreign policy towards Latin America and the Caribbean since 2004 until present days. The analysis of the values and priorities orienting EU foreign policy towards this region as well as its main developments during the period under study revealed, on the one hand, that the EU was able to expand to the East while simultaneously develop a stable and values-based foreign policy towards LAC, and on the other, that Eastern enlargement has had no major transforming role in the formulation or implementation of EU foreign policy towards this region.

KEY-WORDS: European Union (EU), Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC), Eastern enlargement, foreign policy, impact, inter-regionalism.

* This paper was originally submitted in June 2016 as a thesis for the degree "Master of Arts (M.A.) in European and European Legal Studies" (University of Hamburg). It was later published by the Europa-Kolleg Hamburg as a part of its "Study Papers" series, which presents selected master theses from the aforementioned Master Programme. Also available at: https://europa-kolleg-hamburg.de/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/study-paper_Pasquali.pdf. In July 2017, the paper was featured in the Young Researcher's section of the EU-LAC Foundation's newsletter. Also available at: https://eulacfoundation.org/en/documents/young-researchers

This paper explores relations between Portuguese-speakers living in London. It takes the experience of Lusophones as a case study in illuminating how intragroup diversity is negotiated and transnational, multi-ethnic identities constructed and performed in everyday life. Through critical ethnography and interviewing, I provide an account of the varied experience of ‘belonging’ in Europe, for citizens and migrants who connect through similar language and cultural affinities and a shared, albeit contentious, history. By exploring daily rituals in workplaces, bars, cafes, and shops owned, operated, and patronized by
Lusophones, I unpack postcolonial reconfigurations of citizens and migrants in their everyday experience of ‘open’ Europe and provide insight into the discursive processes of emergent and complex diasporic identities. The study found that while Portuguese and Brazilian individuals connect in daily ritual, often to consume similar goods and/or work together in similar roles, language ideology plays a central role in mediating interaction and relations remain superficial and often contentious. For Portuguese, narratives of their own ‘rightness’ – when it comes to stories of migration, doing business, and conducting everyday
life – along with the privilege of European citizenship, are tropes employed to distinguish themselves from other Lusophones, especially Brazilians, with whom they are often compared to by other groups. Luso Africans share less connection in every day life with both Portuguese and Brazilians despite living in close proximity, and express more affinity
with migrants from other African points of origin than fellow Lusophones. The study suggests that for Portuguese and Brazilians especially, language, identity politics and the citizen-migrant distinction play a central role in mitigating meaningful interaction around
shared concern and social issues impacting both groups as ‘non-native’ to the UK. Furthermore, important questions of race – which since colonial times have been at the very core of determining social privilege - are sidestepped by the drawing of moral boundaries of ‘right versus wrong’ and the ‘European vs. non-European’.

· Esbozos de una breve historia · La Unión Europea y el conflicto armado: una incidencia política ambigua · De Londres a Cartagena: un giro que preocupa a las organizaciones de la sociedad civil · Para terminar… · Bibliografía Resu men . El artículo describe el papel de la Unión Europea como uno de los actores internacionales recientes que ejerce una influencia considerable entre las relaciones de los diferentes agentes enfrentados. En su calidad de institución plural y diversa, sus acciones han sido muchas veces ambiguas e intermitentes. El conjunto de éstas ha oscilado entre un tipo de incidencia política que prioriza la preeminencia de los Derechos Humanos y, en el escenario de una lucha global contra el terrorismo, un respaldo diplomático a las políticas de la seguridad democrática del actual Gobierno colombiano. P alabras clave: Unión Europea, Colombia, Cooperación Internacional, Conflicto armado.

En caso de citar: Alberto van Klaveren, "Enfrentando la incertidumbre. Europa y América Latina en el 2015". En: América Latina y el Caribe-Unión Europea. El valor de la integración regional y del diálogo entre regiones. Varios autores. Santiago: ECSA Chile, 2016, 159-176.

Abstract: This article examines one crucial period of contestation in colonial Suriname, the years 1941 and 1942, when sustained labour unrest in the bauxite town of Moengo led to the establishment of the first mining unions. It argues that these strikes laid the groundwork for future relations between labour, the company and the state and explores the kinds of socio-political alliances that were forged between labour and nationalist politicians on the one hand, and government and the transnational company on the other, thereby situating this particular contestation in a larger struggle over a colonial system that aligned itself with metropolitan economic interests.

LA cumbre UE-CELAC del Salvador prevista para 2018 fue pospuesta debido a desacuerdos dentro de CELAC. A pesar de los problemas del sistema de cumbres bi-regionales, la coyuntura internacional es favorable a un reacercamiento entre la Unión Europea y América Latina.

This article analyses the Merida Initiative, whose objective is to coordinate the information systems used against terrorism, organized crime, and drug and arms trafficking between the United States, Mexico and Central America. It implies the introduction of communication equipment, data bases and surveillance technology, which not only reinforces the security policies of the 'western hemisphere', but also consolidates and broadens the spaces of exception in Mexico and Central America, thus eroding their already weakened democratic institutions.

La transición ecológica y la autonomía estratégica son los dos ejes sobre los que gravita un amplio programa de transformación de la Unión Europea, en su propio desarrollo social y económico y en relación con el resto del mundo. Sobre esta base deberían reorientarse las relaciones entre América Latina y Europa, en una coyuntura caracterizada por la crisis de la globalización y la impugnación del orden internacional liberal.

Ai sensi della legge sui diritti d'Autore e del codice civile è vietata la riproduzione di questo libro o di parte di esso con qualsiasi mezzo, elettronico, meccanico, per mezzo di fotocopie, microfilms, registrazioni o altro, senza il consenso dell'autore e dell'editore.

Joren Selleslaghs (Improved Multilateral Action through the Revitalisation of EU-Latin America Relations) shifts the emphasis towards Latin America, highlighting the importance of the region for the EU’s multilateral action. Describing EU relations with the region as being largely unexploited, he asserts that an intensified and broader cooperation with Latin American countries could result in more support for the EU’s multilateral agenda from the region. A revitalised EU-Latin America relationship, he argues, should rest on four main pillars: (i) The pursuit of mutual benefits in development policy, (ii) An increased focus on research and development matters, (iii) An enhanced cooperation in crisis management operations and, (iv) The strengthening of the inter-regional dimension of the relationship.

In recent years a number of people’s tribunals have been organized throughout Latin America to expose different forms of harm and violence associated with the growing power of transnational corporations (TNCs). These grassroots initiatives are part of an increasingly visible transnational corporate accountability movement in the region, which has roots in the resistance mobilizations to the free trade agenda that began in the 1990s. People’s tribunals focus on cases of corporate-related human rights abuses – increasingly related to socio-ecological conflicts in connection with extractive industries. Tribunals locate victim’s demands for justice at the center of debates over the creation of international norms and institutions for business regulation marked by competing models based on voluntary self-regulation in the form of corporate social responsibility and on mandatory international norms and legal instruments. The chapter looks at the role peoples tribunals as a case of transnational grassroots activism of corporate accountability relation to EU-Latin America negotiations of economic association biregional agreements.

Europe and Latin America present a long-standing tradition of parliamentary diplomacy and particularly in the development of regional parliaments. Since the 1970s, inter-parliamentary relations between the two regions have been institutionalized, first by the regular dialogue of the European Parliament with the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino) and more recently, in 2006, with the creation of the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (EuroLat). Apart from representatives of Parlatino, EuroLat includes in the European Union-Latin American Caribbean (EU-LAC) parliamentary dialogue members of other regional assemblies created in recent decades, such as the Andean Parliament, the Central American Parliament and the Mercosur Parliament. However, recent EuroLat meetings have made evident a polarization of positions on regional politics between European and Latin American sides, especially regarding the political and human rights situation in Venezuela. In this sense, the present paper analyzes the impact of EU-LAC relations on the political convergence of Latin American parliaments concerning regional political issues. The aim is to discuss how institutionalized relations with the European Parliament, through EuroLat, increased convergence among Latin American parliamentarians. This argument is exemplified by the joint defensive position on the Venezuelan political situation adopted by Latin American parliamentarians vis-à-vis the European Parliament's condemnatory position.

Two aspects are addressed here of a critical perspective on issues of integration, in which the EU features as a model and a counterpart to South American processes: a) representations of cosmopolitan engagement in issues of development, rights and cultural identity; b) participation in attempts to promote alternative forms of global governance. Discourses of civil society activism and its global networks and participation in international forums thereby enact an agonistic cosmopolitics where Europe appears as both model and adversary. Derrida's logic of exemplarity is introduced to illustrate this point, in contrast to intellectual responses from Latin America emphasising globally connected localities -i.e. reconstructions of traditional ideas and signs of new discourses of community, religion and cultural identity as political resources. Such globalised localisms reconfigure historically crystallised forms of "influence" of Europe on Latin America, problematise notions of cosmopolitanism, and contest representations of both identities and their historical links. 78 remain to certain levels of decision making, their impact can no longer be ignored. With and against existing hegemonic discourses of integration, cooperation and regionalisation, such an agency begins to find ways not only to be heard, but also to set the agenda and the deliberative tone in certain areas.

El artículo analiza los efectos que el pilar de comercio produce en la negociación de un Acuerdo de Asociación de cuarta generación entre la Unión Europea y la Comunidad Andina, así como en la relación entre bloques regionales y a nivel del
grupo andino.
Desde esta perspectiva se explica por qué la Comunidad Andina se divide como bloque para negociar el Acuerdo, bajo un formato “bilateral multi-partes” propuesto por la Unión Europea como una salida para continuar con una negociación en la región, así como la importancia que genera el pilar de comercio por sobre los otros dos pilares de diálogo político y cooperación.

This discussion paper tries to analyze the future cooperation between the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean, based on the challenges of the main integration process. The paper tries to identify the main areas of cooperation in order to enhance governance in this region and taking into account the political landscape of the European Union in the next few years.

El proceso iberoamericano se encuentra en una situación precaria que se refleja en el absentismo de muchos presidentes latinoamericanos en las últimas cumbres. Más allá de este
síndrome formal, lo iberoamericano está profundamente herido por la falta de un proyecto político consistente y su reducción a una identidad cultural. También la competencia con las cumbres
eurolatinoamericanas le ha robado al proceso iberoamericano mucho de su atractivo. Sin embargo, el verdadero reto consiste en desespañolizarlo, hacerlo independiente de los vaivenes de la
política interna española y generar un fundamento más allá de la delgada base cultural, que no logra sustentar una presencia política iberoamericana en las relaciones internacionales.

La contribución de Gustavo Hernández y Toni Sandell aborda la implementación de uno de los nuevos “mecanismos mixtos de asociación público-privada” que mezclan donaciones y préstamos, tales como la Facilidad de Inversión en América Latina (LAIF, por su sigla en inglés) de UE, como parte de la estrategia para canalizar fondos de Ayuda Oficial al Desarrollo (AOD) hacia el sector privado. Este texto ofrece un panorama general del mecanismo y expresa la preocupación, en base a la experiencia con los proyectos LAIF hasta el momento, de que los objetivos de desarrollo sustentable y reducción de la pobreza que con ellos se persiguen se vean eclipsados por los intereses geopolíticos y empresariales de la UE.

El artículo analiza, desde el enfoque institucional, por qué era necesario hacer la reforma de la Constitución cubana, y los retos que debía tener presentes para garantizar la protección de los derechos de toda la sociedad cubana, así como la implementación de las principales transformaciones socioeconómicas realizadas por el gobierno cubano para garantizar la permanencia del sistema socialista cubano, y seguir reforzando las relaciones bilaterales con la UE. De hecho, con la firma y puesta en funcionamiento del primer Acuerdo de Diálogo Político y de Cooperación UE-Cuba del 2016, se puso en marcha un nuevo modelo político en la relación de la UE con Cuba. Por esta razón, en los tres apartados del artículo se demuestra cómo la reforma constitucional cubana respalda y brinda continuidad al proceso de modernización realizado en la estructura social, económica y política en Cuba, para garantizar la aplicación provisional del Acuerdo con la UE desde 2017 hasta 2019.

From an institutional approach, the paper analyzes why it was necessary to reform the Constitution of Cuba, and the challenges that had to be taken into account to ensure the protection of rights of the Cuban people, as well as the implementation by the Government of Cuba of the main socio-economic transformations to guarantee the continuation of the Cuban socialist system and reinforce the bilateral rapport with the European Union (EU). In fact, the signature and implementation of the first EU-Cuba Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement, in 2016, prompted a new political model in the relationship between the EU and Cuba. For this reason, in the three sections of the paper, we prove how the reform of the Constitution of Cuba offers support and continuity to the process of modernization of the social, economic and political structure of Cuba, in order to ensure the provisional implementation of the Agreement with the EU from 2017 to 2019.

Two aspects are addressed here of a critical perspective on issues of integration, in which the EU features as a model and a counterpart to South American processes: a) representations of cosmopolitan engagement in issues of development, rights and cultural identity; b) participation in attempts to promote alternative forms of global governance. Discourses of civil society activism and its global networks and participation in international forums thereby enact an agonistic cosmopolitics where Europe appears as both model and adversary. Derrida's logic of exemplarity is introduced to illustrate this point, in contrast to intellectual responses from Latin America emphasising globally connected localities-i.e. reconstructions of traditional ideas and signs of new discourses of community, religion and cultural identity as political resources. Such globalised localisms reconfigure historically crystallised forms of "influence" of Europe on Latin America, problematise notions of cosmopolitanism, and contest representations of both identities and their historical links.

Latinoamerica necesita urgentemente diversificar sus relaciones exteriores, de modo que Europa vuelve a ser atractiva. La III Cumbre de Jefes de Estado y de Gobierno de la Comunidad de Estados Latinoamericanos y Caribenos-Union Europea deberia ser el marco propicio para iniciar un acercamiento, siempre que no genere extensas declaraciones con pocos resultados concretos

While Latin America’s trade with China is flourishing again, and China’s government is courting Latin America, the European Union risks being outpaced. This is demonstrated by new cooperation initiatives within the framework of the second China–CELAC forum, which took place in Santiago de Chile on 21–22 January 2018. By contrast, the third summit between the European Union and CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States), originally scheduled for October 2017, was postponed indefinitely.