Common strategy for relations between the European Union and Latin America

The committee adopted the own-initiative report by José Ignacio SALAFRANCA SÁNCHEZ-NEYRA (EPP-ED, E) on relations between the EU and Latin America. It called on the European Council to adopt a common EU strategy, backed by adequate funding, to reflect the priorities agreed on at the first Summit of Heads of State and Government of the countries of the EU, Latin America and the Caribbean meeting in Brazil in June 1999. In the political sphere, the aim should be to create an EU-Latin American Transatlantic Assembly, sign an EU-Latin American peace charter and launch an EU-Latin American political and security partnership. The report also said that political dialogue should be modernised at ministerial level. In the economic, financial and commercial spheres, the committee said that a new series of association agreements should be finalised with Mercosur and Chile, and association agreements should be concluded in the medium term with the Andean Community and Central America. It wanted a global interregional partnership agreement to be concluded with a view to putting an EU-Latin American free-trade area in place by 2010. This would provide additional institutional back-up for the substance of the strategic bi-regional partnership agreed on in Brazil and would cover all the countries concerned. Regional integration and trade within Latin America itself should also be promoted. In the social and cultural spheres, emphasis should be placed on combating poverty, introducing a global anti-drugs plan and training members of the judiciary and the police to help ensure proper prosecution of drug trafficking and related offences. A further basic aim of the new strategy should be to promote the principles underlying the EU, including human rights, democracy, good governance, transparency and the rule of law.�