EU-Brazil strategic partnership

2008/2288(INI)

Pursuant to Rule 114(1) of the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament, Véronique DE KEYSER (PES, BE), on behalf of the PES Group, has drafted a proposal for a recommendation on the European Union-Brazil Strategic Partnership.

In the context of the progressive establishment of a Euro-Latin-American Partnership Area by 2012 with Brazil, MEPs present a series of recommendations to the Council, which can be summarised as follows:

  • the EU-Brazil Strategic Partnership should form part of the bi-regional approach to and the global view of relations between the European Union, Latin-America and the Caribbean;
  • political dialogue should direct the Partnership as a whole, at all levels;
  • the Strategic Partnership should provide real added value in relation to current bilateral agreements between the EU, Brazil and Mercosur;
  • the central issues on which the Partnership's political agenda and dialogue will focus should be the promotion of peace and security, democracy, climate change, energy security and sustainable development, and the fight against poverty and exclusion;
  • both Partners should seek to bring their positions closer together by means of closer cooperation with the United Nations, by encouraging multilateralism;
  • in terms of peace and security, the main issues to tackle are disarmament, non-proliferation and control of weapons, organised crime and specifically drug trafficking, money laundering, trafficking in small arms, light weapons and ammunition, trafficking in human beings, and terrorism;
  • the Partners need to make progress with the debate on social cohesion and migration, which must become a central point of cooperation;
  • dialogue should also tackle sectoral policies on transport, food security, science and technology, information society, employment and social issues, regional development, culture and education, etc;
  • the Partnership should also encourage the provision of regular information to the European Parliament and the Euro-Latin-American Parliamentary Assembly.