EU-Mexico strategic partnership

Pursuant to Rule 114(1) of the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament, José Ignacio SALAFRANCA SÁNCHEZ-NEYRA (EPP-ED, ES), on behalf of the EPP-ED, has drafted a proposal for a recommendation on the EU-Mexico Strategic Partnership.

To recall the EU-Mexico Strategic Partnership, which entered into force in 2000, is founded on three pillars: political dialogue, the ongoing establishment of a free trade area and cooperation. Since 2004, the institutions of the European Union and country-Mexico have been stepping up their high-level contacts and deepening their relations. MEPs consider, however, that the Partnership should also be based on a certain number of other elements that can be summarised as follows:

• the Partnership should form part of the bi-regional approach to and the global view of relations between the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean, on the basis of a bi-regional Strategic Partnership;
• political dialogue arising from the EU-Mexico Strategic Partnership should provide a real boost for relations with and between the various regional integration processes, the safeguarding of the values and concerns of the Strategic Association, and the strengthening of multilateralism in the sphere of international relations;
• the EU-Mexico Strategic Partnership should provide real added value both in relation to the provisions of the current Association Agreement;
• it should allow for better coordination between the partners in the various international fora and institutions;
• it should encourage effective multilateralism and strengthen the United Nations' ability to maintain and consolidate peace, and to tackle common threats to peace and security, including trafficking in drugs and arms, organised crime, terrorism and the mafias which profit from illegal immigration, in keeping with the Lima Declaration;
• it should encourage the provision of regular information to the European Parliament and the Euro-Latin-American Parliamentary Assembly.