Geopolitical competition, strategic trade imperatives and shared approaches to digital, green and social issues are key drivers of the European Union’s effort to develop closer relations with Latin America.
The summit meeting on Monday and Tuesday in Brussels between 27 EU and 33 Latin American leaders is an ambitious attempt by the EU to catch up on competing US and Chinese engagements with this vast, diverse and richly endowed continent. Ahead of the summit, the European Commission called for closer inter-regional liaison between these “equal and like-minded partners”. Equality and mutual respect is a central feature of the current transition from a time when Latin American leaders tended to follow US and European policies towards a more independent approach. They now have more options, arising from their rapidly developing economic and political relations with China over the last ten years.
The EU remains Latin America’s largest trade and investment partner, but it must now build on this. This summit agenda reflects the new realities of world power. The European side proposes the political relationship be institutionalised by more regular leader, ministerial and official meetings . It seeks a rapid conclusion of the EU-Mercosur trade agreement after 24 years negotiation between Brussels and Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. Much greater access for their agricultural goods to EU markets is involved in return for an opening up of theirs to European goods and services. An EU-Chile trade agreement with an emphasis on lithium and copper is being similarly prioritised.
The Latin American side is far less politically integrated than the EU one and is determined to pursue its own interests. On Ukraine, they do not accept the EU’s depiction of Russia as the aggressor. They must balance pressure from industrial and agricultural sectors for greater access to protected European markets against their own regional and environmental concerns. The summit promises to be a bruising, but worthwhile, transition towards a more balanced relationship.