The European Parliament adopted by 526 votes to 96, with 59 abstentions, a resolution on EU political relations between the EU and Latin America.
Members recalled that the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region is an ideal partner for the European Union to respond to the major challenges currently facing the world such as mass migration, terrorism, climate change and poverty.
The EU-LAC partnership is based on common values and principles such as respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, the rule of law, international peace and security and a common commitment to a multilateral system of global governance based on common standards and dialogue.
Expanding political and economic cooperation with LAC countries: while the two regions share a common vision of the world based on multilateralism and face the same challenges, Parliament considered it essential to expand political and economic cooperation and build of stronger partnerships with LAC countries to be crucial at bi-regional, sub-regional and bilateral level.
The Union and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) should strengthen their partnership and political dialogue by cooperating on clearly defined common interests in order to jointly address major global challenges.
Regional integration: stressing the need for greater coordination between the different regional integration schemes in place, Members recommended enhancing dialogue, cooperation and exchange of best practices with CELAC, Mercosur, the Andean Community of Nations (ACN), the Central American Integration System (SICA) and the Pacific Alliance which brings together the Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.
Parliament suggested speeding up the ongoing negotiations updating the EU-Mexico Global Agreement finalising the updated EU-Chile Association Agreement before the first trimester of 2018.
The resolution stressed, inter alia, the need to:
- integrate economies into global value chains based on a circular economic model;
- create conditions allowing the economies of both regions to diversify so that they are less dependent and vulnerable to global cyclical variations;
- create public and private partnerships to foster economic development, entrepreneurship, growth and foreign investment, and to fight the informal economy;
- establish sustainable and efficient tax systems in both regions;
- strengthen environmental cooperation with particular emphasis on energy transition and decarbonisation.
- strengthen cooperation with economic funds in the form of bilateral agreements between universities, scholarships, knowledge exchange and international mobility between EU and LAC students, in particular by boosting the Erasmus + programme;
- systematically include rules on corporate responsibility and clauses safeguarding human rights and social rights in association, trade and investment agreements between the EU and LAC countries;
- cooperate in the area of defense and security, including terrorism, combating drug trafficking, organised crime and tackling the problem of corruption;
- strengthen military cooperation for developing special emergency aid corps for natural and humanitarian disasters.
Situation in Venezuela: deeply concerned about the serious deterioration of the democratic and human rights situation in Venezuela, Members urged the Venezuelan Government to safeguard the separation and independence of branches of government and to restore full constitutional authority to the National Assembly.
Lastly, Parliament called on the VP/HR and the European Council to give consideration to the freezing of assets, as well as placing restrictions on access to EU territory for all those involved in the serious violations of human rights in Venezuela, including the members of the non-recognised Constituent Assembly.