EU relations with Latin America and the Caribbean: Council info and EU Publications

At the EU-CELAC summit in Brussels on 17-18 July 2023, the EU and CELAC leaders adopted a declaration.

On this page you will find all the information related to this meeting:
- agenda highlights (a week before the meeting date)
- main results (after the meeting)
- press material
- photos, videos and live streaming
- related documentation

The European Council discussed preparations for the EU-CELAC Summit. It will be an opportunity to renew and strengthen a partnership based on shared values, history and culture, and to agree on a positive and forward-looking agenda. Regular and structured bi-regional dialogue will ensure the follow-up and implementation of concrete actions in areas of common interest, including trade and investment. The European Council underlines the importance of addressing together the global climate and environmental crises, rising inequalities, the opportunities of digital transformation and the need to diversify supply chains, as well as unprecedented threats to global security and the rules-based order.

Indicative list of bi-regional events.

The European Union and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) together form a massive bloc of 60 countries with a combined population exceeding one billion. Heads of state and government of the EU and CELAC will gather in Brussels on 17 and 18 July 2023 for the EU-CELAC summit, the third of its kind, eight years on from the last gathering.

The President of the European Council, Charles Michel and the Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves announced that the next EU-CELAC Summit of Heads of State and Government will take place in Brussels on July 17 and 18, when Spain holds the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Ministers of foreign affairs from the EU and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) met for the third time on 27 October 2022 in Buenos Aires, holding discussion around the theme "Renewing the bi-regional partnership to strengthen peace and sustainable development".

Leaders from the European Union (EU) and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) met virtually on 2 December 2021. The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, chaired the meeting, representing the EU alongside President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. The High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell also took part in the meeting. The Heads of State/Government of 7 LAC countries, holding the presidencies of regional and sub-regional organisations in 2021, participated in the meeting.

On 13 May 2019, the Council adopted conclusions on EU relations with Latin America and the Caribbean, following the joint communication by the High Representative and the Commission on the "European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean: joining forces for a common future" of 16 April 2019.

The EU and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) signed an agreement establishing the European Union - Latin America and the Caribbean Foundation, the EU-LAC Foundation, as an international organisation on 25 October in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The agreement is a key deliverable of the meeting of the foreign ministers of EU and LAC countries.

The Working Party on Latin America and the Caribbean handles EU relations with countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, with regional integration bodies such as the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and other sub-regional bodies.

EU-CELAC summits bring together European, Latin American and Caribbean leaders to strengthen relations between both regions. The second EU-CELAC / 8th EU-LAC summit was held in Brussels on 10-11 June 2015 under the theme: "Shaping our common future: working for prosperous, cohesive and sustainable societies for our citizens".

Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean share deep-rooted and historical bonds that bring them close together. They are natural partners seeking to deepen their strategic bonds in the social, political and economic areas.The EU-CELAC partnership is one for the next generation. Together both regions can drive trade and investment to create jobs and growth; and promote lasting development to ensure high living standards for our citizens and fight poverty and inequality globally. Together, the EU and the CELAC count 61 countries (almost a third of the members of the United Nations), eight seats at the G20, and over one billion people.

The EU-CELAC Summit in June 2015 brought together 61 EU and Latin American and Caribbean leaders, including more than 40 Heads of State or Government. This publication gives essential information on the event and presents the most important documents adopted during the summit. It also provides the forewords by Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission and Rafael Correa Delgado, President pro tempore of CELAC.

The European Union (EU) and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) have a long-standing strategic partnership, based on shared values, history and culture as well as solid economic ties and common interests. In today’s contested world, the EU-LAC partnership is of geopolitical importance.

The European Union (EU) and the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) are essential partners in today’s challenging global context. The two regions have developed one of the densest networks of association, trade, political and cooperation agreements, between the EU and 27 of the 33 LAC countries. Under Global Gateway, and acting as Team Europe, the EU aims to boost smart, clean, and secure investments in physical sustainable infrastructure in the areas of digital, climate and energy or transport and also to promote enabling operating environments. This includes regulatory frameworks and investments in people in areas such as education, research, and health.

Renewing the bi-regional partnership to strengthen peace and sustainable development.

From the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the European Union (EU) has taken resolute action to tackle the sanitary crisis and to mitigate its socio-economic impact. A global pandemic requires global solutions. That is why the EU has been at the forefront of the multilateral and cooperative response to fight the virus and its consequences.

Today, the High Representative and the European Commission have adopted a Joint Communication setting out a New Agenda for Relations between the EU and Latin America and the Caribbean. It proposes a stronger and modernised strategic partnership, through reinforced political engagement, boosting trade and investment, and building more sustainable, fair and inter-connected societies through Global Gateway investments.

A key deliverable of the EU-CELAC Summit will be the EU-LAC Global Gateway Investment Agenda, a political commitment to work together in Latin American and the Caribbean. This will help the region benefit from the open environment generated by trade and investment agreements, to thrive and achieve progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.

At the second EU – Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) ministerial meeting on environment and climate, Ministers from the two regions committed to step up cooperation to tackle the triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss. They agreed to promote a transition towards low carbon, circular and clean economies where nature is protected and restored. The meeting takes place ahead of the EU-CELAC summit on 17-18 July in Brussels.

This webpage gathers policy background, funding opportunities, agreements and arrangements, projects and results.

The EU-LAC Digital Alliance creates a strategic framework to foster substantial bi-regional cooperation across the full spectrum of digital and space issues. The Alliance addresses digital transformation and innovation based on a shared commitment to a human-centric vision of the digital economy and society. Governments, private stakeholders, international finance institutions, intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations, civil society, and academia are involved in its implementation.

The EU-LAC Digital Alliance is the first regional digital partnership between the Latin American and Caribbean countries (LAC) and the European Union (EU).

The EU’s relations with Latin America and the Caribbean are multifaceted and conducted at different levels. The EU interacts with the entire region through summits of the heads of state and government, while agreements and political dialogue bind the EU and the Caribbean, Central America, the Andean Community, Mercosur and individual countries.

The regional summit between the EU and the Community of Latin America and Caribbean states (CELAC) bring together European, Latin American and Caribbean leaders to strengthen relations between both regions. These summits are the main forums for dialogue and cooperation between Europe, and Latin American and Caribbean states. These summit meetings represent an extension of the EU-Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) summits that had been held since 1999. In 2010, at the summit held in Mexico, 33 LAC countries decided to merge the Rio Group and the CALC (Summit of Latin America and the Caribbean on Development and Cooperation) into one forum: the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).

Europe and Latin America face shared challenges such as defending, throughout the world, a dialogue- and rules-based multilateral order, ensuring truly inclusive economic growth able to reduce inequalities, combating climate change - an existential threat to our way of life - achieving the Sustainable Development Objectives, the ongoing battle for effective gender equality, creating a fair form of globalisation, institution-building and strengthening democratic guarantees.
In the EuroLat Assembly, the 75 Members of the European Parliament work alongside the 75 Latin American Members from the regional parliaments to provide a parliamentary dimension to the EU-LAC Bi-regional Strategic Partnership and to debate, monitor and review each of these issues and other questions relevant to citizens in the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean.

DMER's main objective will be to make a positive contribution to the EU-Mercosur Association Agreement during the European Parliament's current term (2019-2024). This achievement, the result of negotiations that have lasted more than a decade, will pave the way towards the creation of the largest free trade area in the world.

The DAND mission is to contribute to the strengthening of institutional relations between Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and the European Union. During this legislature, the work of this Delegation in relation to the development of the peace process in Colombia and the Venezuelan migration crisis, which is seriously affecting the entire region, will be of particular importance.

Collectively, the 33 countries forming the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) are the EU's fifth largest trading partner. The EU has fully fledged agreements with two Latin American groupings (Cariforum and the Central America group), a multiparty trade agreement with three countries of the Andean Community (Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru), and agreements with Mexico and Chile that are in the process of being modernised. Furthermore, the EU has inter-regional and bilateral framework agreements with both Mercosur and its individual members.

The High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy/Vice-President (HR/VP) and the European Commission adopted a joint communication setting out a new agenda for relations between the European Union and the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) on 7 June 2023. To strengthen and modernise the strategic partnership, reinforced political engagement, boosted trade and investment, and more sustainable investment through the Global Gateway connectivity strategy are key priorities of the EU strategy towards the region – one of the most aligned in terms of interests, culture and values. Less than a year earlier, on 27 October 2022, Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and EU foreign ministers adopted the joint CELAC-EU Roadmap 2022 2023 in Buenos Aires. This paved the way for the long-awaited EU-CELAC Summit to take place in Brussels, set for 17 18 July 2023, under the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU. Expectations are high, as this will be the first fully-fledged summit in 8 years.

Latin America will be high on the agenda of the European Union in 2023, with the EU-CELAC Summit at Heads of State and Government level due to take place in the second half of the year. In its 2023 work programme, the European Commission announced its intention to propose a new strategy to reinvigorate relations with Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). It is also striving for full ratification of the modernised Association Agreements with Chile and Mexico; the European Parliament could start the consent procedure for the agreement with Chile this year. Significant developments in LAC, to be followed closely, include China's growing influence in the region, Brazil's return to the international stage, political turmoil in Peru and three presidential elections.

Latin America and the Caribbean and the European Union are strategic regions for one another and natural partners to collaborate in the development of research and innovation policy priorities such as open science. This work describes the open access policies for scientific production that have been developed in LAC and in the EU, analyses the common challenges and convergence avenue for both regions to establish a policy dialogue, and proposes specific recommendations for a joint policy action on which to base intra-LAC and EU-LAC collaboration. These are structured into 4 priority objectives broken down into 7 actions and 19 concrete measures.

Over the past two decades, China has become a major trading partner, lender and provider of foreign direct investment (FDI) to many Latin American countries. China’s multi-faceted presence in Latin America, driven by its need to secure supplies of raw materials to fuel its economic development and acquire outlets for its manufactured goods, has been accompanied by greater political engagement with the countries in the region, at both bilateral and multilateral level. As part of its expansion strategy, China has deployed a Third World narrative that has resonated with the immediate needs and expectations of Latin American states and elites. China’s growing presence and influence poses a challenge to the strategy of other extra-regional actors, first and foremost the United States but also the European Union.

On 28 June 2019, the European Union and Mercosur reached a political agreement to establish an interregional trade agreement as ‘part of a wider Association Agreement between the two regions’. The European Commission and Mercosur member states went on to publish a summary of the negotiating results, while both sides started the process of legal revision. Meanwhile, the European External Action Service and Mercosur representatives were negotiating the political dialogue and cooperation part of the Association Agreement, which was completed one year later, on 18 June 2020, and has not been published. The present report is about the latter document, to which the author has been granted confidential access: it scrutinises its content, compares it to previous and similar agreements, analyses its prospects of ratification and impact – with a special focus on Brazil – and assesses its potential to cement a meaningful EU-Mercosur strategic partnership.

This study is the operational response of the Wildlife Crisis Window, an integral part of the ‘EU Biodiversity for Life’ (B4Life) flagship initiative. B4Life is a conceptual framework to ensure better coherence and coordination of EU actions in the area of biodiversity and ecosystems. B4Life was defined in 2014 with the purpose of highlighting the strong linkages between ecosystems and livelihoods in view of contributing to poverty eradication. In line with the EU Green Deal, it aims to tackle drastic biodiversity loss by promoting good governance of natural resources, securing healthy ecosystems for food security, and supporting innovative ways to manage natural capital in the framework of a green economy.

The purpose of this document is to compile and analyse the lessons learned from ADELANTE, the European Union’s flagship programme for Triangular Cooperation with Latin America and the Caribbean. The experiences gathered in it are the result of the implementation of eight projects co-financed by the programme during the period 2016 to 2020. These projects have been characterised by addressing different thematic areas, taking place in several countries and with a wide variety of actors, building on different forms of collaboration among one another and with different action strategies.

This evaluation is an independent, evidence-based assessment of the European Union (EU) regional development cooperation with Latin America in 2009-2017. It aims at providing key lessons and recommendations to improve and inform future regional cooperation. The EU regional cooperation covers 18 countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.

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 wellpositioned 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).