Latin America and the Caribbean must be one of the EU's strategic priorities, defends Renew Europe

The Renew Europe Group in the European Parliament welcomes the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly’s declaration following its meeting in Bogotá, having at its core the need to strengthen the dialogue and cooperation between the EU, Latin America and the Caribbean.

The EU should enhance its presence in the region through the variety of instruments it currently deploys via its international partnerships and develop a people-centric approach to its policies in the area. At the same time, zero tolerance should be the norm in the cases of breaches of human rights and other essential provisions mandated by international law.

MEP, Jordi Cañas (Ciudadanos, Spain), First Vice-President of the EuroLat Parliamentary Assembly and Renew Europe Group’s EuroLat Coordinator, who participated at the meeting held in Colombia, said:

“The EU must put Latin America and the Caribbean back on its radar or risks having others occupy the space that the Europe Union is ceding in the region. Latin America and the Caribbean must be one of the EU's strategic priorities to address the present and future challenges we share. And we must do so by strengthening our institutional relations, our association agreements and our bi-regional fora. The EU and LAC must deepen their relations as partners and allies sharing history, culture and values, and work to advance a positive agenda to move forward together to respond to the problems of the more than one billion citizens we represent.

The EU and LAC share a common past and we must work to share the present and the future as well.”

ENDS