{"change_dates":[],"dossier":{"amendments":[],"changes":{"2014-11-10T02:08:59":[{"data":[{"body":"EC","commission":[{"DG":["External Relations"]}],"date":"2005-12-08T00:00:00","docs":[{"celexid":"CELEX:52005DC0636:EN","text":["
PURPOSE : to\n strengthen the partnership between the European Union and Latin America.
CONTENT : this\n communication sets out a series of recommendations aiming to further\n consolidate the links between the EU and Latin America. Bearing in mind the\n next EU-Latin America/Caribbean Summit to be held in Vienna in May 2006, the\n Commission analyses the current challenges and makes practical\n recommendations to revitalise the partnership. In particular, its proposals\n include stepping up political dialogue between the two regions, stimulating\n economic and commercial exchanges, encouraging regional integration, tackling\n inequality and tailoring its development and aid policy more closely to real\n conditions in Latin America.
The Commission proposes to give a fresh impetus to the EU-Latin\n America partnership which currently faces a number of challenges. Its main objectives\n for the coming years aim to:
- establish a strategic partnership through a network of\n association agreements (including free trade agreements) involving all the countries\n of the region and liable to contribute to the integration of the region as a\n whole;
- have genuine political dialogues which increase the influence of\n both regions on the international scene;
- develop effective sectoral dialogues (e.g. on social cohesion or\n the environment) with a view to the sustainable reduction of inequalities and\n promoting sustainable development: the Commission proposes holding a social\n cohesion forum and a meeting of environment ministers every two years to\n prepare for the EU-Latin America/Caribbean Summits;
- contribute to the development of a stable and predictable\n framework to help the Latin American countries attract more European\n investment, which will eventually contribute to economic development: the\n Commission encourages the European Investment Bank to set up a Latin American\n Facility to provide loans in support of interconnectivity of infrastructure\n networks;
- tailor aid and cooperation more to the needs of the countries\n concerned;
- increase mutual understanding through education and culture: the\n Commission will prioritise the creation of a common higher education area and\n undertakes to ensure that Latin American teachers and students are invited to\n visit European universities;
- sustaining the Commission’s commitment to supporting the\n countries of Latin America in the fight against drugs and corruption.
The Commission recommends:
- conducting a needs-based political dialogue with the appropriate\n Latin American partners at biregional, bilateral or subregional level, on\n carefully chosen topics (such as UN reform, peace-keeping, conflict\n prevention and crisis situations in certain countries of the region);
- selecting a restricted number of topics;
- preparing political dialogue at meetings of senior officials\n (using the troika format);
- regularly organising meetings at senior official level with a\n few countries, as and when necessary, for the purposes of political dialogue.
Strengthening the strategic partnership should contribute to\n establishing a favourable climate for economic exchanges between the two\n regions: in Latin America this could mean technology transfers, improvements\n in productivity, the development of its infrastructure and diversification of\n its markets. It is in the EU’s interest on the other hand to develop and\n consolidate its market positions and to pursue a dynamic investment policy.
With a view to modernising the government, the Commission aims to\n step up cooperation operations which will strengthen governance and encourage\n inclusiveness, of poorer citizens in particular; involve civil society in its\n operations and promoting the involvement of citizens (particularly women) in\n political projects, notably through political parties and support the EP’s\n desire to set up an EU-Latin America Transatlantic assembly.
Lastly, the\n Commission intends to strengthen the transfer of know-how and good practice\n regarding cultural cooperation, both between Latin American countries and\n between the region and the EU. Therefore, it recommends organising a Europe week every year around 9 May in all Latin American countries in which it is\n represented, in close collaboration with the embassies of the Member States.
\nThe committee adopted the own-initiative report on\n enhanced cooperation between the EU and Latin America drawn up by José\n Ignacio SALAFRANCA SÁNCHEZ-NEYRA (EPP-ED, ES) in response to the Commission\n policy paper submitted ahead of the EU-LAC (Latin America and the Caribbean) Summit\n scheduled for May 2006 in Vienna.
The report stressed that Latin America was a highly\n important market for the Union because of its growing ties with Asia\n (especially China) and its abundant human resources and raw material stocks.\n The Summit would afford an excellent opportunity to \"revitalise\" relations\n and, as far as the EU was concerned, to draw up a \"self-contained,\n coherent and comprehensive strategic framework\". MEPs pledged that\n Parliament would do its utmost to help make the Summit \"a real\n success\" for all the partners.
The committee spoke of the need for an an overall\n strategic vision which should \"pursue the ultimate goal of establishing\n a genuine political, social, cultural, environmental and security\n partnership, bringing a Euro-Latin American free trade area into being by\n 2010, and launching a real partnership in the social field and in the spheres\n of knowledge and joint action to bring about sustainable development\".\n While supporting the Commission's proposals for stepping up political\n dialogue, MEPs said that a stronger partnership must also be built on a\n Euro-Latin American charter for peace and security, on the work of a\n bi-regional conflict prevention centre, and on new institutional machinery\n including a Euro-Latin American Transatlantic Assembly and a Euro-Latin\n American Permanent Secretariat. They also called for a \"regular\n bi-regional dialogue between local and regional governments under the\n auspices of the Committee of the Regions\", and wanted to see\n \"systematic attempts to seek a Euro-Latin American consensus in the\n various international organisations and negotiations\", especially in the\n UN and the WTO. The report added that it was essential, if the partnership\n was to run smoothly, that a Euro-Latin American entrepreneurial forum, with\n representatives of employers' organisations and large and small businesses,\n should work to promote trade and encourage investment of every kind in the\n two regions.
In other points raised in the report, the committee\n endorsed the Commission's aim of continuing to help Latin America fight drugs\n and demanded \"a resolute strategy\" to tackle the pernicious effects\n of the drugs trade. It also supported the Commission's proposals on\n strengthening regional integration processes in Latin America and its\n specific commitments regarding social cohesion. Lastly, MEPs called for the\n EU to launch a \"resolute, generous development cooperation policy\"\n and to allocate budget resources \"commensurate with stated\n ambitions\". In this connection the Commission was urged to put forward\n \"ambitious options\" in its future budget proposals so that\n Parliament would not have to battle with the Council in order to increase\n funding.
\n
The Council adopted the following conclusions on strengthening the\n partnership between the EU and Latin America. In particular, it :
- reaffirms the importance of the EU's strategic partnership with Latin America and is determined to further strengthen the alliance in the mutual interest\n of both regions;
- underlines the EU’s objective to continue to cooperate closely\n with Latin America to promote our common values and interests, and to\n contribute jointly to peace and security, protection and promotion of human\n rights and the strengthening of citizens’ participation and democracy. Social\n cohesion, sustainable development including the protection of the environment\n and the strengthening of international environmental governance within the UN\n system, and support to regional integration and stability, are key objectives\n of our strategic partnership with the region;
- recognises the need to support efforts to reinforce democratic\n institutions, good governance and the rule of law, to combat drugs and\n organised crime including human trafficking, to promote gender equality,\n children’s and indigenous rights, and to address migration issues and human\n security in all its dimensions;
- recalls the EU and Latin American countries’ commitment to an\n effective multilateral system, with a central role for the United Nations, to\n meet global threats and challenges;
- welcomes and supports the important role of the OAS in providing\n support to regional stability in Latin America and the Caribbean;
- welcomes initiatives to develop effective sectoral dialogue,\n including on social cohesion and environment. In this respect, it especially\n welcomes the recommendation to hold meetings on environmental policy at\n ministerial level;
- acknowledges the need for a genuine, well-tailored, political\n dialogue with the region as a whole, with the various sub-regions, as well as\n with individual countries, making the most of existing structures. Such\n political dialogue should focus on strengthening the bi-regional capacity for\n cooperation on global issues of common concern;
- considers it beneficial to both regions to share views on current\n international or regional issues, to support each other in a multilateral\n framework and exchange experience and knowledge on peace-keeping, crisis\n prevention, counter-terrorism and response to natural disasters. In\n particular, the growing participation of Latin American countries in\n peacekeeping efforts deserves support and proves that the countries of the\n region are determined to play a crucial role in ensuring regional stability;
- recalls that development cooperation with the region will be\n implemented in accordance with the Joint Statement on the European Consensus\n on Development defining the objectives and principles for the Community’s\n development cooperation;
- underlines that Community cooperation in Latin America for the\n period 2007- 2013 should have as its primary objective the eradication of\n poverty, sustainable development and the pursuit of the Millennium\n Development Goals. It further highlights the importance of policy coherence\n for development and that development cooperation should follow a\n differentiated approach based on Latin American countries' own needs,\n strategies, priorities and assets, and be implemented in accordance with the\n commitments in the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, aiming at improved\n donor coordination and harmonisation and alignment to recipient country\n systems. Resource allocation to the countries of the region should reflect\n the principles in the Joint Statement on the European Consensus on\n Development and take into account the importance accorded by the EU to Latin America. The Council welcomes the willingness of several countries to voluntarily\n explore and implement innovative mechanisms of financing for development such\n as the International Finance Facility, the International
Finance Facility for immunisation, or a contribution on airline\n tickets. In this framework, remittances are also an important tool for\n development;
- believes that more effective cooperation and an increased mutual\n understanding between both regions can be developed through the fields of education,\n scientific research and culture. The building of an EU-LAC Common Area of\n Higher Education by 2015 will be a decisive step in this direction;
- acknowledges the importance of reinvigorating economic and\n commercial relations. It further recognises the importance of a favourable\n climate for the promotion of business and investment opportunities between\n the two regions in order to make optimal and mutually beneficial use of their\n existing potential;
- welcomes the recommendation to step up regulatory dialogue,\n including on issues such as barriers to trade and investment, as well as the\n organisation of the first EU-LAC Business Summit on the occasion of the\n forthcoming EU-Latin American and Caribbean Summit in Vienna;
- recognises that the promotion of inter-connectivity is an\n integral part of effective regional integration. Furthermore, the Council\n welcomes the European Investment Banks’ continued support for Latin American\n countries.
- while reiterating its attachment to ongoing multilateral\n negotiations in the WTO under the DDA, the Council recalls the EU’s strategic\n objective of enhancing the EU-Latin American bi-regional partnership through\n a network of association agreements, involving all the countries of the\n region and aimed at promoting the integration of the region as a whole;
- reaffirms its call to finalise negotiations on a balanced and\n ambitious EUMercosur association agreement as soon as possible. It also\n expects that appropriate decisions can be taken regarding the opening of\n negotiations on association agreements, including free trade agreements, with\n the Andean Community and Central America;
- looks forward to the upcoming IVth EU-Latin American and\n Caribbean Summit that will take place in Vienna on 12 May 2006, involving\n Heads of State and Government, civil society and the business community from\n both regions. The Council also considers that the Vienna Summit should\n reaffirm policy priorities and confirm the importance of the partnership by\n strengthening it through tangible outcomes;
- considers\n that a dialogue should take place with all relevant stakeholders, notably\n with Latin American partners, to ensure that both regions share a common\n commitment on the way forward. The Council invites all relevant parties to\n ensure effective follow-up of the recommendations of the Communication and of\n these Conclusions.
\nThe European\n Parliament adopted a resolution based on the own-initiative report drafted by\n José Ignacio Salafranca Sánchez-Neyra(EPP-ED, Spain) in anticipation of the Fourth EU-LAC Summit, which will take place in Vienna on 12 and 13 May 2006 . Parliament congratulated the Commission because it had submitted a new\n strategy communication that serves to identify the challenges and\n extraordinary opportunities likely to arise as a genuine bi-regional\n strategic partnership is translated into reality. (Please see the summary of 08/12/2005.) Parliament endorses the Austrian Presidency’s commitment to strengthening\n EU-LAC relations, and reaffirmed its intention of playing a constructive role\n in support of the Commission and the current Presidency.
A\n comprehensive approach to the bi-regional strategic partnership:Parliament emphasised that it was absolutely essential to have an\n overall strategic vision of the partnership, which ranged beyond isolated\n proposals and pursued the ultimate goal of establishing a genuine political,\n social, cultural, environmental and security partnership. Such a partnership\n must be built on a Euro-Latin American Charter for Peace and Security, to\n enable practical expression to be given to policy, strategy, and security\n proposals of interest to the two regions, on the work of a bi-regional\n conflict prevention centre and on new institutional machinery. Parliament\n supported the Commission's recommendation that the political dialogue be\n adjusted in line with the needs of the different partners. The dialogue\n should also encompass European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) matters as\n a whole and be organised around the Euro-Latin American Charter for Peace and\n Security and the work of a bi-regional conflict prevention centre. The\n purpose of the bi-regional conflict prevention centre should be the early\n detection of causes of potential violence and armed conflicts, with a view to\n preventing such conflicts or their possible escalation at an early stage.
Parliament\n applauded the Commission for coming out in favour of setting up the\n Euro-Latin American Transatlantic Assembly at the Vienna Summit and proposed the\n Euro-Latin American Transatlantic Assembly (EUROLAT) be made the\n parliamentary body of the strategic partnership and be provided with certain\n advisory and review powers. Parliament also called for a Euro-Latin American\n entrepreneurial forum, consisting of representatives of employers’\n organisations and of European and Latin American small, medium-sized and\n large enterprises, to promote trade and encourage investment of every kind in\n the two regions. Parliament went on to state that a Euro-Latin American area\n of global interregional partnership should be set up in the medium term.\n There must also be a genuine partnership in the social field and in the\n spheres of knowledge and joint action to bring about sustainable development,\n employing various measures and resources, including a generous development\n cooperation policy and opening up EU markets step by step, in keeping with\n the aims laid down in the association agreements. It was essential, too, to\n give a generous new boost to the Union’s development cooperation policy\n towards Latin America, in which poverty eradication and measures to combat\n social inequality should become a key element.
Parliament\n went on to applaud the Commission's proposal that an ‘EU-LAC common area of\n higher education’ be established as a matter of priority, but regarded as\n insufficiently ambitious the aim of welcoming no more than about 4 000\n Latin American students and teachers to European universities in the period\n from 2007 to 2013. To produce a real impact on the cultural and political\n mores of such a vast region, the above figure should be at least trebled. Special\n attention must also be paid to basic education, in order to meet the needs of\n the poorest sectors of Latin American society.
Parliament\n pointed out that the growing rise in the production, trafficking and use of\n drugs – and especially cocaine – all over the world and in Europe itself,\n with its familiar consequence (namely the spread of organised crime, illegal\n arms trafficking,corruption and money-laundering) was severely\n damaging all the Euro-Latin American partners. It demanded a resolute\n strategy to tackle its pernicious effects through encouragement for\n alternative crops, although without penalising small-scale farmers\n manipulated by drug traffickers. It called on the Commission to include the\n European Code of Conduct on Arms Exports in the ‘political dialogue’ chapter\n of the bi-regional agenda.
The Vienna Summit: revitalising the bi-regional strategic partnership:Parliament recommendedthat the Vienna Summit make a\n limited number of verifiable clear-cut commitments serving to lend new\n impetus to the strategic partnership in four main areas:
- joint action to bring about effective multilateralism;
- a decisive boost to regional integration processes in Latin America; and
- specific commitments regarding social cohesion and migration and\n human interaction.
A) Joint\n action to bring about effective multilateralism: Parliament pointed to\n the excellent opportunities for joint action afforded in multilateral fora. At\n present the role of the two regions on the international stage was not\n commensurate with their political and economic weigh. Parliament looked,\n therefore, to all the partners to make a much more purposeful effort to\n harmonise their positions among themselves and in relation to the outside\n world. The association agreements in force or about to be concluded offer\n exceptional opportunities for intensifying relations of every kind between\n the Union as such and its Latin American partners.
B) A\n decisive boost to regional integration processes in Latin America: Parliament\n welcomedthe fact that the Commission was continuing to view regional\n integration as a priority area for development assistance to Latin America, and supported its proposals aimed at strengthening regional integration\n processes. It noted that the prospect of an association agreement with the Union had already been instrumental in inducing the Andean and Central American countries\n to press ahead with the various aspects of economic integration. It called on\n the Commission to draw up a broader strategy to promote integration above and\n beyond trade commitments, laying emphasis also on non-trading aspects such as\n regional security and democratic governance, movements of persons and\n workers, joint management of ecosystems and river basins, and physical integration\n and infrastructure. Parliament also called on the Commission to launch a\n multi-annual programme for cooperation with the SEGIB, funded by the\n necessary budget, in order to tap the full potential to be gained from mutual\n cooperation by pursuing institutional cooperation, technical assistance,\n exchange and training programmes relating to regional integration, and\n policies concerning development cooperation.
C) Specific\n commitments regarding social cohesion: Parliament unreservedly endorsed the\n Commission proposal to encompass the aim of social cohesion in an ongoing,\n coherent and practical fashion within all the initiatives undertaken in\n partnership with Latin America. It called on the partners to pursue joint\n initiatives and to hold more frequent social forums ringing together the\n business world, workers, consumers and civil society, on the one hand at the\n level of the EU and Latin America as such and on the other within the\n different countries. Parliament repeated that a bi-regional solidarity fund should\n be set up for the purpose of financing sector-based programmes relating to\n the eradication of social exclusion and extreme poverty and to health,\n education and infrastructures in the countries and regions where per capita\n income is lower and social inequalities are greater, and subsequently\n covering the Latin American countries as a whole. A modest injection of funds\n for Latin America, to be contributed from, or reallocated from within, the\n Union budget and not constituting an additional allocation, could act as a\n catalyst which, if combined with the budgetary resources earmarked by other\n bodies (the EIB, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Andean Development\n Corporation, the Central American Bank for Economic Integration, the World\n Bank, etc.) and the countries concerned, could provide the budgetary support\n needed to create sufficient critical mass to help alleviate the problems.
D) Verifiable\n clear-cut commitments regarding migration and human interaction: migration\n and human interaction were a key area of the Union’s relations with its Latin\n American partners. The approach must encompass policies to combat illegal\n migration and at the same time, in collaboration with the countries\n concerned, emphasising the advantages of legal migration. Parliament deplored\n the Commission’s failure to produce specific proposals for the Summit. It proposed that the Council should, as soon as possible, adopt specific priority\n measures for Latin America along the lines of the conclusions reached at the\n Brussels European Council as regards Africa and the Mediterranean. These\n measures should cover a range of matters, including regulation of migration,\n by strengthening bilateral agreements and including the fight against illegal\n migration and the mafias that exploit it and against people-trafficking,\n especially where vulnerable groups are concerned.
\nPURPOSE : to\n strengthen the partnership between the European Union and Latin America.
CONTENT : this\n communication sets out a series of recommendations aiming to further\n consolidate the links between the EU and Latin America. Bearing in mind the\n next EU-Latin America/Caribbean Summit to be held in Vienna in May 2006, the\n Commission analyses the current challenges and makes practical\n recommendations to revitalise the partnership. In particular, its proposals\n include stepping up political dialogue between the two regions, stimulating\n economic and commercial exchanges, encouraging regional integration, tackling\n inequality and tailoring its development and aid policy more closely to real\n conditions in Latin America.
The Commission proposes to give a fresh impetus to the EU-Latin\n America partnership which currently faces a number of challenges. Its main objectives\n for the coming years aim to:
- establish a strategic partnership through a network of\n association agreements (including free trade agreements) involving all the countries\n of the region and liable to contribute to the integration of the region as a\n whole;
- have genuine political dialogues which increase the influence of\n both regions on the international scene;
- develop effective sectoral dialogues (e.g. on social cohesion or\n the environment) with a view to the sustainable reduction of inequalities and\n promoting sustainable development: the Commission proposes holding a social\n cohesion forum and a meeting of environment ministers every two years to\n prepare for the EU-Latin America/Caribbean Summits;
- contribute to the development of a stable and predictable\n framework to help the Latin American countries attract more European\n investment, which will eventually contribute to economic development: the\n Commission encourages the European Investment Bank to set up a Latin American\n Facility to provide loans in support of interconnectivity of infrastructure\n networks;
- tailor aid and cooperation more to the needs of the countries\n concerned;
- increase mutual understanding through education and culture: the\n Commission will prioritise the creation of a common higher education area and\n undertakes to ensure that Latin American teachers and students are invited to\n visit European universities;
- sustaining the Commission’s commitment to supporting the\n countries of Latin America in the fight against drugs and corruption.
The Commission recommends:
- conducting a needs-based political dialogue with the appropriate\n Latin American partners at biregional, bilateral or subregional level, on\n carefully chosen topics (such as UN reform, peace-keeping, conflict\n prevention and crisis situations in certain countries of the region);
- selecting a restricted number of topics;
- preparing political dialogue at meetings of senior officials\n (using the troika format);
- regularly organising meetings at senior official level with a\n few countries, as and when necessary, for the purposes of political dialogue.
Strengthening the strategic partnership should contribute to\n establishing a favourable climate for economic exchanges between the two\n regions: in Latin America this could mean technology transfers, improvements\n in productivity, the development of its infrastructure and diversification of\n its markets. It is in the EU’s interest on the other hand to develop and\n consolidate its market positions and to pursue a dynamic investment policy.
With a view to modernising the government, the Commission aims to\n step up cooperation operations which will strengthen governance and encourage\n inclusiveness, of poorer citizens in particular; involve civil society in its\n operations and promoting the involvement of citizens (particularly women) in\n political projects, notably through political parties and support the EP’s\n desire to set up an EU-Latin America Transatlantic assembly.
Lastly, the\n Commission intends to strengthen the transfer of know-how and good practice\n regarding cultural cooperation, both between Latin American countries and\n between the region and the EU. Therefore, it recommends organising a Europe week every year around 9 May in all Latin American countries in which it is\n represented, in close collaboration with the embassies of the Member States.
\nThe committee adopted the own-initiative report on\n enhanced cooperation between the EU and Latin America drawn up by José\n Ignacio SALAFRANCA SÁNCHEZ-NEYRA (EPP-ED, ES) in response to the Commission\n policy paper submitted ahead of the EU-LAC (Latin America and the Caribbean) Summit\n scheduled for May 2006 in Vienna.
The report stressed that Latin America was a highly\n important market for the Union because of its growing ties with Asia\n (especially China) and its abundant human resources and raw material stocks.\n The Summit would afford an excellent opportunity to \"revitalise\" relations\n and, as far as the EU was concerned, to draw up a \"self-contained,\n coherent and comprehensive strategic framework\". MEPs pledged that\n Parliament would do its utmost to help make the Summit \"a real\n success\" for all the partners.
The committee spoke of the need for an an overall\n strategic vision which should \"pursue the ultimate goal of establishing\n a genuine political, social, cultural, environmental and security\n partnership, bringing a Euro-Latin American free trade area into being by\n 2010, and launching a real partnership in the social field and in the spheres\n of knowledge and joint action to bring about sustainable development\".\n While supporting the Commission's proposals for stepping up political\n dialogue, MEPs said that a stronger partnership must also be built on a\n Euro-Latin American charter for peace and security, on the work of a\n bi-regional conflict prevention centre, and on new institutional machinery\n including a Euro-Latin American Transatlantic Assembly and a Euro-Latin\n American Permanent Secretariat. They also called for a \"regular\n bi-regional dialogue between local and regional governments under the\n auspices of the Committee of the Regions\", and wanted to see\n \"systematic attempts to seek a Euro-Latin American consensus in the\n various international organisations and negotiations\", especially in the\n UN and the WTO. The report added that it was essential, if the partnership\n was to run smoothly, that a Euro-Latin American entrepreneurial forum, with\n representatives of employers' organisations and large and small businesses,\n should work to promote trade and encourage investment of every kind in the\n two regions.
In other points raised in the report, the committee\n endorsed the Commission's aim of continuing to help Latin America fight drugs\n and demanded \"a resolute strategy\" to tackle the pernicious effects\n of the drugs trade. It also supported the Commission's proposals on\n strengthening regional integration processes in Latin America and its\n specific commitments regarding social cohesion. Lastly, MEPs called for the\n EU to launch a \"resolute, generous development cooperation policy\"\n and to allocate budget resources \"commensurate with stated\n ambitions\". In this connection the Commission was urged to put forward\n \"ambitious options\" in its future budget proposals so that\n Parliament would not have to battle with the Council in order to increase\n funding.
\n
The Council adopted the following conclusions on strengthening the\n partnership between the EU and Latin America. In particular, it :
- reaffirms the importance of the EU's strategic partnership with Latin America and is determined to further strengthen the alliance in the mutual interest\n of both regions;
- underlines the EU’s objective to continue to cooperate closely\n with Latin America to promote our common values and interests, and to\n contribute jointly to peace and security, protection and promotion of human\n rights and the strengthening of citizens’ participation and democracy. Social\n cohesion, sustainable development including the protection of the environment\n and the strengthening of international environmental governance within the UN\n system, and support to regional integration and stability, are key objectives\n of our strategic partnership with the region;
- recognises the need to support efforts to reinforce democratic\n institutions, good governance and the rule of law, to combat drugs and\n organised crime including human trafficking, to promote gender equality,\n children’s and indigenous rights, and to address migration issues and human\n security in all its dimensions;
- recalls the EU and Latin American countries’ commitment to an\n effective multilateral system, with a central role for the United Nations, to\n meet global threats and challenges;
- welcomes and supports the important role of the OAS in providing\n support to regional stability in Latin America and the Caribbean;
- welcomes initiatives to develop effective sectoral dialogue,\n including on social cohesion and environment. In this respect, it especially\n welcomes the recommendation to hold meetings on environmental policy at\n ministerial level;
- acknowledges the need for a genuine, well-tailored, political\n dialogue with the region as a whole, with the various sub-regions, as well as\n with individual countries, making the most of existing structures. Such\n political dialogue should focus on strengthening the bi-regional capacity for\n cooperation on global issues of common concern;
- considers it beneficial to both regions to share views on current\n international or regional issues, to support each other in a multilateral\n framework and exchange experience and knowledge on peace-keeping, crisis\n prevention, counter-terrorism and response to natural disasters. In\n particular, the growing participation of Latin American countries in\n peacekeeping efforts deserves support and proves that the countries of the\n region are determined to play a crucial role in ensuring regional stability;
- recalls that development cooperation with the region will be\n implemented in accordance with the Joint Statement on the European Consensus\n on Development defining the objectives and principles for the Community’s\n development cooperation;
- underlines that Community cooperation in Latin America for the\n period 2007- 2013 should have as its primary objective the eradication of\n poverty, sustainable development and the pursuit of the Millennium\n Development Goals. It further highlights the importance of policy coherence\n for development and that development cooperation should follow a\n differentiated approach based on Latin American countries' own needs,\n strategies, priorities and assets, and be implemented in accordance with the\n commitments in the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, aiming at improved\n donor coordination and harmonisation and alignment to recipient country\n systems. Resource allocation to the countries of the region should reflect\n the principles in the Joint Statement on the European Consensus on\n Development and take into account the importance accorded by the EU to Latin America. The Council welcomes the willingness of several countries to voluntarily\n explore and implement innovative mechanisms of financing for development such\n as the International Finance Facility, the International
Finance Facility for immunisation, or a contribution on airline\n tickets. In this framework, remittances are also an important tool for\n development;
- believes that more effective cooperation and an increased mutual\n understanding between both regions can be developed through the fields of education,\n scientific research and culture. The building of an EU-LAC Common Area of\n Higher Education by 2015 will be a decisive step in this direction;
- acknowledges the importance of reinvigorating economic and\n commercial relations. It further recognises the importance of a favourable\n climate for the promotion of business and investment opportunities between\n the two regions in order to make optimal and mutually beneficial use of their\n existing potential;
- welcomes the recommendation to step up regulatory dialogue,\n including on issues such as barriers to trade and investment, as well as the\n organisation of the first EU-LAC Business Summit on the occasion of the\n forthcoming EU-Latin American and Caribbean Summit in Vienna;
- recognises that the promotion of inter-connectivity is an\n integral part of effective regional integration. Furthermore, the Council\n welcomes the European Investment Banks’ continued support for Latin American\n countries.
- while reiterating its attachment to ongoing multilateral\n negotiations in the WTO under the DDA, the Council recalls the EU’s strategic\n objective of enhancing the EU-Latin American bi-regional partnership through\n a network of association agreements, involving all the countries of the\n region and aimed at promoting the integration of the region as a whole;
- reaffirms its call to finalise negotiations on a balanced and\n ambitious EUMercosur association agreement as soon as possible. It also\n expects that appropriate decisions can be taken regarding the opening of\n negotiations on association agreements, including free trade agreements, with\n the Andean Community and Central America;
- looks forward to the upcoming IVth EU-Latin American and\n Caribbean Summit that will take place in Vienna on 12 May 2006, involving\n Heads of State and Government, civil society and the business community from\n both regions. The Council also considers that the Vienna Summit should\n reaffirm policy priorities and confirm the importance of the partnership by\n strengthening it through tangible outcomes;
- considers\n that a dialogue should take place with all relevant stakeholders, notably\n with Latin American partners, to ensure that both regions share a common\n commitment on the way forward. The Council invites all relevant parties to\n ensure effective follow-up of the recommendations of the Communication and of\n these Conclusions.
\nThe European\n Parliament adopted a resolution based on the own-initiative report drafted by\n José Ignacio Salafranca Sánchez-Neyra(EPP-ED, Spain) in anticipation of the Fourth EU-LAC Summit, which will take place in Vienna on 12 and 13 May 2006 . Parliament congratulated the Commission because it had submitted a new\n strategy communication that serves to identify the challenges and\n extraordinary opportunities likely to arise as a genuine bi-regional\n strategic partnership is translated into reality. (Please see the summary of 08/12/2005.) Parliament endorses the Austrian Presidency’s commitment to strengthening\n EU-LAC relations, and reaffirmed its intention of playing a constructive role\n in support of the Commission and the current Presidency.
A\n comprehensive approach to the bi-regional strategic partnership:Parliament emphasised that it was absolutely essential to have an\n overall strategic vision of the partnership, which ranged beyond isolated\n proposals and pursued the ultimate goal of establishing a genuine political,\n social, cultural, environmental and security partnership. Such a partnership\n must be built on a Euro-Latin American Charter for Peace and Security, to\n enable practical expression to be given to policy, strategy, and security\n proposals of interest to the two regions, on the work of a bi-regional\n conflict prevention centre and on new institutional machinery. Parliament\n supported the Commission's recommendation that the political dialogue be\n adjusted in line with the needs of the different partners. The dialogue\n should also encompass European Security and Defence Policy (ESDP) matters as\n a whole and be organised around the Euro-Latin American Charter for Peace and\n Security and the work of a bi-regional conflict prevention centre. The\n purpose of the bi-regional conflict prevention centre should be the early\n detection of causes of potential violence and armed conflicts, with a view to\n preventing such conflicts or their possible escalation at an early stage.
Parliament\n applauded the Commission for coming out in favour of setting up the\n Euro-Latin American Transatlantic Assembly at the Vienna Summit and proposed the\n Euro-Latin American Transatlantic Assembly (EUROLAT) be made the\n parliamentary body of the strategic partnership and be provided with certain\n advisory and review powers. Parliament also called for a Euro-Latin American\n entrepreneurial forum, consisting of representatives of employers’\n organisations and of European and Latin American small, medium-sized and\n large enterprises, to promote trade and encourage investment of every kind in\n the two regions. Parliament went on to state that a Euro-Latin American area\n of global interregional partnership should be set up in the medium term.\n There must also be a genuine partnership in the social field and in the\n spheres of knowledge and joint action to bring about sustainable development,\n employing various measures and resources, including a generous development\n cooperation policy and opening up EU markets step by step, in keeping with\n the aims laid down in the association agreements. It was essential, too, to\n give a generous new boost to the Union’s development cooperation policy\n towards Latin America, in which poverty eradication and measures to combat\n social inequality should become a key element.
Parliament\n went on to applaud the Commission's proposal that an ‘EU-LAC common area of\n higher education’ be established as a matter of priority, but regarded as\n insufficiently ambitious the aim of welcoming no more than about 4 000\n Latin American students and teachers to European universities in the period\n from 2007 to 2013. To produce a real impact on the cultural and political\n mores of such a vast region, the above figure should be at least trebled. Special\n attention must also be paid to basic education, in order to meet the needs of\n the poorest sectors of Latin American society.
Parliament\n pointed out that the growing rise in the production, trafficking and use of\n drugs – and especially cocaine – all over the world and in Europe itself,\n with its familiar consequence (namely the spread of organised crime, illegal\n arms trafficking,corruption and money-laundering) was severely\n damaging all the Euro-Latin American partners. It demanded a resolute\n strategy to tackle its pernicious effects through encouragement for\n alternative crops, although without penalising small-scale farmers\n manipulated by drug traffickers. It called on the Commission to include the\n European Code of Conduct on Arms Exports in the ‘political dialogue’ chapter\n of the bi-regional agenda.
The Vienna Summit: revitalising the bi-regional strategic partnership:Parliament recommendedthat the Vienna Summit make a\n limited number of verifiable clear-cut commitments serving to lend new\n impetus to the strategic partnership in four main areas:
- joint action to bring about effective multilateralism;
- a decisive boost to regional integration processes in Latin America; and
- specific commitments regarding social cohesion and migration and\n human interaction.
A) Joint\n action to bring about effective multilateralism: Parliament pointed to\n the excellent opportunities for joint action afforded in multilateral fora. At\n present the role of the two regions on the international stage was not\n commensurate with their political and economic weigh. Parliament looked,\n therefore, to all the partners to make a much more purposeful effort to\n harmonise their positions among themselves and in relation to the outside\n world. The association agreements in force or about to be concluded offer\n exceptional opportunities for intensifying relations of every kind between\n the Union as such and its Latin American partners.
B) A\n decisive boost to regional integration processes in Latin America: Parliament\n welcomedthe fact that the Commission was continuing to view regional\n integration as a priority area for development assistance to Latin America, and supported its proposals aimed at strengthening regional integration\n processes. It noted that the prospect of an association agreement with the Union had already been instrumental in inducing the Andean and Central American countries\n to press ahead with the various aspects of economic integration. It called on\n the Commission to draw up a broader strategy to promote integration above and\n beyond trade commitments, laying emphasis also on non-trading aspects such as\n regional security and democratic governance, movements of persons and\n workers, joint management of ecosystems and river basins, and physical integration\n and infrastructure. Parliament also called on the Commission to launch a\n multi-annual programme for cooperation with the SEGIB, funded by the\n necessary budget, in order to tap the full potential to be gained from mutual\n cooperation by pursuing institutional cooperation, technical assistance,\n exchange and training programmes relating to regional integration, and\n policies concerning development cooperation.
C) Specific\n commitments regarding social cohesion: Parliament unreservedly endorsed the\n Commission proposal to encompass the aim of social cohesion in an ongoing,\n coherent and practical fashion within all the initiatives undertaken in\n partnership with Latin America. It called on the partners to pursue joint\n initiatives and to hold more frequent social forums ringing together the\n business world, workers, consumers and civil society, on the one hand at the\n level of the EU and Latin America as such and on the other within the\n different countries. Parliament repeated that a bi-regional solidarity fund should\n be set up for the purpose of financing sector-based programmes relating to\n the eradication of social exclusion and extreme poverty and to health,\n education and infrastructures in the countries and regions where per capita\n income is lower and social inequalities are greater, and subsequently\n covering the Latin American countries as a whole. A modest injection of funds\n for Latin America, to be contributed from, or reallocated from within, the\n Union budget and not constituting an additional allocation, could act as a\n catalyst which, if combined with the budgetary resources earmarked by other\n bodies (the EIB, the Inter-American Development Bank, the Andean Development\n Corporation, the Central American Bank for Economic Integration, the World\n Bank, etc.) and the countries concerned, could provide the budgetary support\n needed to create sufficient critical mass to help alleviate the problems.
D) Verifiable\n clear-cut commitments regarding migration and human interaction: migration\n and human interaction were a key area of the Union’s relations with its Latin\n American partners. The approach must encompass policies to combat illegal\n migration and at the same time, in collaboration with the countries\n concerned, emphasising the advantages of legal migration. Parliament deplored\n the Commission’s failure to produce specific proposals for the Summit. It proposed that the Council should, as soon as possible, adopt specific priority\n measures for Latin America along the lines of the conclusions reached at the\n Brussels European Council as regards Africa and the Mediterranean. These\n measures should cover a range of matters, including regulation of migration,\n by strengthening bilateral agreements and including the fight against illegal\n migration and the mafias that exploit it and against people-trafficking,\n especially where vulnerable groups are concerned.
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