Resolution on the 2nd European, Latin-American and Caribbean Summit, Madrid, May 2002

The European Parliament adopted a resolution on the second EU/Latin America summit which calls for a frank review of the factors responsible for the failure to achieve the objectives set at the first summit. The EU and the Mercosur member states should make a fresh commitment to negotiating a partnership agreement. Parliament would like to see a Euro-Latin American free-trade area created by 2010 via an interregional partnership agreement which would lend institutional support and comprehensive geographical cover to the bi-regional strategic partnership determined in Rio. The creation of a bi-regional solidarity fund for the management and funding of sectoral programmes in health, education and the fight against extreme poverty in countries and regions with the lowest per capita income and the greatest inequalities, could be a useful instrument for heading off certain crises. Parliament stated its concern about the coup d'etat in Venezuela and the crisis in Argentina. Finally, it urged Cuba and the EU to pursue renewed dialogue on the basis agreed in the joint communique in Havana on 2 December 2001.�