Latin American and European Relations in an Age of Uncertainty and Opportunity

Abstract

The Strategic Partnership between the European Union (EU) and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) was created in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1999 to foster and strengthen political, economic, and cultural links between the two regions.¹ Observers have been critical of the partnership for failing to achieve more results and reflect the evolving regional and international contexts (Freres and Sanahuja, 2006; Freres et al., 2007; Maihold, 2007; Maihold, 2008; Malamud, 2008; Mendizabal and Edwards, 2008; Sanahuja, 2008). Conversely, there has been criticism from within the EU Council of Ministers that those downplaying the lack of success within the Strategic Partnership have confused a lack of substance with a lack of serious research (Buck, 2009). However, at the Madrid Summit in May 2010, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton, called for a “new era of EU-LAC relations” arguing that the dialogue between the regions needs to be “more effective and more results orientated.”²

We believe that there is a window of opportunity for boosting the Strategic Partnership between Latin America and the Caribbean and the European Union.

Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC, 2011a).