Activities of Francisco ASSIS related to 2017/2027(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
EU political relations with Latin America (debate) PT
Amendments (25)
Amendment 31 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C
Recital C
C. whereas the LAC region has undergone significant changes in the past decade, such as the elevation of a large part of the population to the middle class through social policies and the overall consolidation of democracy, but also the end of the commodities super-cycle that made millions of people vulnerable to falling back into poverty;
Amendment 36 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital C a (new)
Recital C a (new)
Ca. whereas, after a decade of impressive economic growth, the end of the cycle of high prices for raw materials, on which the majority of LAC countries depend, combined with the slowdown in the Chinese economy, which is now their second trade partner after the US, has led to economic stagnation or even recession in various countries in the region, jeopardising much of the progress made and leaving millions of people at risk of falling back into poverty;
Amendment 51 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital D
Recital D
D. whereas the EU has also experienced important shifts in the past years, namely the economic crisis, an increase in inequality, the challenges linked to Brexit, the rise in nationalist and populist movements and the return of xenophobic discourses, the refugee crisis, and the significant rise in citizen discontent with political institutions;
Amendment 66 #
Motion for a resolution
Recital F a (new)
Recital F a (new)
Fa. whereas Latin America and the Caribbean have been systematically relegated to second place when defining the main priorities of the EU’s external policy, despite the obvious cultural and linguistic ties that historically link it to the LAC countries, and despite the need to find new allies in the face of its growing loss of geopolitical influence in the world;
Amendment 79 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Stresses that in the wake of the economic crisis, the EU and LAC countries are facing common challenges in the areas of sustainable economic growth, digital transformation, social inclusion and gender equality, while at the same time sharing common values such as democracy, human rights, peace and solidarity, and underlines that this partnership and political dialogue, based on common principles and interests in a horizontal relationship, has become crucial to the advancement of the bi- regional and cooperation exchange;
Amendment 94 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Underlines the importance of the EU-CELAC summits as a strategic bi- regional partnership in a new framework for political dialogue, and calls on the EU and on CELAC to reinforce this partnership and political dialoguewithin the framework of its thematic dialogues and main initiatives, such as the Joint Initiative on Research and Innovation, the Structured Dialogue on Migration and the Coordination and Cooperation Mechanism on Drugs, by working on clearly identified common interests in order to address jointly key global challenges in multilateral fora, such as the United Nations and the G-20;
Amendment 100 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Reiterates its support to regional integration inside the LAC region, and stresses the need for greater coordination between the different regional integration schemes existing in the region, while respecting differences in the pace of integration; stconsiders it vital to incresases the need to speed up negotiations in order to reach an EU- Mercosur agreement that could establish an economic area based on similar trade and investment rules for almost all LAC and EU countri dialogue and cooperation with the main LAC regional organisations, starting with the Organisation of American States (OAS), the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), Mercosur, the Pacific Alliance, the Andean Community of Nations (ACN), the Central American Integration System (SICA), and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM); stresses the importance of boosting interparliamentary cooperation between the EU and LAC, notably between the European Parliament and the various regional parliaments, with an exchange of political and institutional experience and knowledge; welcomes the dialogue recently launched between Mercosur and the Pacific Alliance with a view to gradual convergence and a gain in scale to match future regional and global challenges;
Amendment 105 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5a. Welcomes the resumption of negotiations on the EU-Mercosur Association Agreement, whose political significance transcends purely economic and trade benefits, as well as the fresh commitment to it shown by the new leaders of Brazil and Argentina; notes that this also reflects a fresh willingness on the part of these countries to intensify relations with the European Union; highlights the need to speed up the negotiations with a view to completing the EU-Mercosur agreement by the end of 2017, as planned by senior figures in both blocs;
Amendment 115 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Recalls that the goal of eradicating poverty and reducing inequality must be addressed through social cohesion and inclusion, and highlights the necessity of widening and consolidating the middle class and, protecting it from the effects of economic cycles and creating conditions ensuring that upward social mobility reflects a genuine structural change and is not merely the result of a temporary increase in purchasing power;
Amendment 122 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Underlines the need to integrate the LAC economies in global value chains, based on a circular economic model, and to create productive development programmes that will enable these economies to rise in the value chain, as well as to recognise the importance of developing latest-generation bilateral and multilateral commercial agreements; stresses the importance of creating conditions allowing LAC economies to diversify, making them less dependent on raw materials and cyclical variations in their value; highlights the importance of promoting the transfer of scientific and technological knowledge, enhancing human capital and diversifying employment, to which end it is essential to increase investment in education, training and skills;
Amendment 149 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. Urges the effective inclusion of women in all spheres of political and social life, with a view to enhancing their political participation, strenuously combatting femicides, guaranteeing the physical and psychological security, and employment equality, of women, and ensuring their fundamental rights, including sexual and reproductive rights; deplores the fact that some LAC countries still have inhumane laws criminalising abortion, even in cases of spontaneous abortion, rape, incest, danger to life and serious and fatal foetal impairment, condemning innocent women to completely inappropriate prison sentences for aggravated homicide; calls for the urgent repeal of this cruel legislation;
Amendment 156 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. Reiterates the importance of the existence of work and education opportunities for young people, as they embody the future hopes for, and are a key factor in, the continent’s future political stability; encourages further cooperation in the form of bilateral university participation, knowledge exchange and international mobility between EU and LAC students, notably through boosting the Erasmus + programme as part of the higher-education partnership with CELAC, launched in 2015; points out the need to advance full and mutual recognition of university degrees and to strengthen bi- regional cooperation in the quality and accreditation system;
Amendment 168 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. Highlights the advances in freedoms and social rights made in the last decade, and the great efforts made to elaborate public policies to ambitious programmes for the equitable redistributeion of wealth and economic growth equally, with spending on social policies rising from 5% of 19% of the total economy, making a decisive contribution to lifting almost 60 million Latin Americans out of poverty in the past 15 years; notes the necessity to guarantee the rights and safety of religious minorities, indigenous groups, the LGTBI community and populations in rural areas;
Amendment 172 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 a (new)
Paragraph 13 a (new)
13a. Underlines the need to guarantee the rights and safety of religious minorities and the LGTBI community; urges LAC governments to pass laws and take measures capable of protecting human rights defenders and journalists against the persecution, threats, defamation campaigns, arbitrary arrest, torture, forced disappearance and murder of which they are frequently the target; calls for the rights and interests of indigenous peoples and populations in rural areas to be safeguarded in the face of development projects with a major environmental impact and the operations of extractive industries, implementing prior consultation and consent mechanisms in such cases;
Amendment 176 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 b (new)
Paragraph 13 b (new)
13b. Welcomes the progress made in the consolidation and stabilisation of democracies, which has made it possible to strengthen the rule of law, promote a culture of plurality and free debate on differing ideas, stimulate the growing independence of civil society and the development of social activism, boost citizens’ awareness of the need to demand greater transparency and accountability from those holding public office, and create a climate of maturity that plays a major part in maintaining and stabilising wealth-redistribution policies even when the natural alternation of government occurs and power passes to political forces inspired by a different ideology;
Amendment 178 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 13 c (new)
Paragraph 13 c (new)
13c. Notes with great concern the increase in episodes of violence involving indigenous LAC communities, deplores the repeated violations of their rights, murders, attacks and sexual abuse of which they become targets when they find themselves on a collision course with interests linked to agri-business, raw- material extraction, deforestation and large-scale development projects; deplores the fact that many indigenous communities live in extreme poverty, without access to their ancestral lands, and are confined to small strips of territory sandwiched between agro- industrial farms, where they are vulnerable to reprisals by private security agents and mercenaries; calls for their human, social and cultural rights to be respected and for pending processes aimed at the demarcation of their territories to be unblocked and completed;
Amendment 187 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15
Paragraph 15
15. Highlights the challenges both regions face in terms of security, which include terrorism and the fight against drug trafficking and organised crime, and encourages continued efforts to strengthen security cooperation through police and military coordination and the exchange of information; points out that the fight against drug and arms trafficking, trafficking in human beings, fraud and money laundering and cybercrime are the main common challenges in the area of organised crime;
Amendment 191 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 a (new)
Paragraph 15 a (new)
15a. Calls on the EU to strive to support LAC countries suffering endemic violence, with unacceptable rates of homicide, extrajudicial execution and forced disappearances, since without security there can be no genuine prosperity, dignity and happiness; urges LAC countries to take steps to put an end to prison overcrowding and improve prison conditions, to guarantee that the physical and psychological integrity of detainees is safeguarded, to investigate and punish torture and ill-treatment and to promote the more human treatment of prisoners so as to prevent the mutinies that regularly occur in prisons and that result in loss of life;
Amendment 193 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 15 b (new)
Paragraph 15 b (new)
15b. Draws attention to the challenges that both regions face in relation to refugee flows, and highlights the need to respect the right of asylum and to protect those fleeing violence, regardless of whether that violence stems from armed conflicts, persecution for ethnic and religious reasons or organised crime, and to make provision not only for their reception in decent conditions but also for their subsequent social integration; draws attention to the alarming number of internally displaced people in Latin America as a result of the violence committed by criminal organisations and groups, particularly in Central America, where the number of people affected is in the hundreds of thousands;
Amendment 205 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17
Paragraph 17
17. Calls for further cooperation in environmental issues, a major mutual interest, with special emphasis on the energy transition and decarbonisation process, which will have an impact on the economies of both regions; highlights the need to support research on and the deployment of renewable energies, the protection of nature, and policies to address the causes and consequences of climate change in a region that is acutely affected by its effects, taking into account the rights of local and indigenous communities in areas where natural resources are extracted; notes that Latin America now has 28% of the potentially cultivable new land and its population is growing constantly, which is placing increased environmental pressure on these countries; points out that various government policies have encouraged more sustainable and ecosystem-friendly farming;
Amendment 208 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 17 a (new)
Paragraph 17 a (new)
17a. Points out that LAC countries are the third destination for EU direct investment; draws attention to the need to make multinational companies legally responsible whenever their operations in LAC and EU countries result in human rights abuses; calls, in this context, on all LAC and EU countries to make a decisive contribution towards ensuring that their companies adopt the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights; notes that the EU has added responsibility in relation to companies based in Europe or that are branches of or are owned by companies whose activity involves human rights abuses;
Amendment 218 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Highlights the importance of the opening of negotiations for the modernisation of the EU-Mexico Global Agreement, the progress made in the negotiations for the modernisation of the EU-Chile Association Agreement, and the speeding up of the EU-Mercosur negotiations, and calls for the ratification of the EU-Central America Association Agreement by all national parliaments of the EU Members States; highlights the importance of association and free trade agreements between the EU and LAC countries in intensifying cooperation and solidarity between the two regions, provided that the conditions are in place to ensure that the prosperity and wealth created by those agreements benefits the whole of society; considers such agreements to be vital in order to incorporate rules into globalisation and counter the negative effects that it also entails, as well as to counter the hyper- protectionist practices that create imbalances and asymmetries; takes the view, therefore, that such agreements have a political significance that transcends their purely economic and trade benefits;
Amendment 229 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 19 a (new)
Paragraph 19 a (new)
19a. Stresses the vital importance of systematically including rules on corporate responsibility and clauses safeguarding human rights and social rights in association, trade and investment agreements between the EU and LAC countries;
Amendment 235 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 22 a (new)
Paragraph 22 a (new)
22a. Deplores the serious political and economic crisis facing Venezuela, the shortage of food and medicines, the climate of extreme polarisation in Venezuelan society and the violence that has now become part of everyday life for the Venezuelan people; condemns the criminalisation of diverging opinions and the arbitrary imprisonment of members of the opposition, some of whom are linked by nationality to EU countries, the constant attempts to hijack the powers of the legitimately elected National Assembly and the repeated attacks on the principle of the separation of powers; calls for the release of political prisoners and a national dialogue, for the independence of powers to be fully respected and the electoral calendar to be complied with; pledges to continue to work with the aim of contributing to dialogue and national reconciliation;
Amendment 242 #
Motion for a resolution
Paragraph 23
Paragraph 23
23. Reiterates its support to the peace process in Colombia, which is decisive for the future of Colombians and for stabilisation in the region of which this country is a part, and undertakes to support the Colombian Government in its implementationing the historic agreement with the FARC, ensuring involvement of the whole of Colombian society, notably victims and civil society organisations, and guaranteeing the safety and protection of human rights activists and community leaders; urges the EU and its Member States to uphold their political and financial support, including the EU Trust Fund for Colombia, and supports the role of VP/HR’s Special Envoy for Colombia; urges the government and Colombian society to endeavour to bring the negotiations on an equally ambitious peace process with the ELN – National Liberation Army – to a successful conclusion;