Opening speech at the high-level seminar "The European Union and Latin America: common challenges and opportunities"

Your Excellencies,

Colleagues,

Ladies and gentlemen,

I am very happy to have the opportunity to open the conference on relations between the EU and the Latin American and Caribbean States, and cordially welcome you to the European Parliament. I should like to begin by thanking my colleague Ramón Jáuregui Atondo - a tireless advocate of Eurolat - for organising the conference.

I have for a long time taken a strong personal interest in relations between our two continents. Europe and Latin America are natural allies. Not only do we share such common values as democracy, the rule of law and human rights, but we also share interests, for example with regard to a multilateral world order or trade issues.

Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean States have a combined population of one billion people, generate a quarter of global GNP, comprise 60 States and therefore represent one third of the votes at the UN General Assembly. If we join forces so as to punch our weight on the world stage, we can be extremely influential together, and cooperation between our regions of the world can also be a key to the solution of global governance problems such as climate change, environmental problems or reform of international institutions.

Hitherto, unfortunately, the potential of this partnership has been underestimated and therefore insufficiently exploited. My hope for the next plenary session of Eurolat in the week ahead and the second CELAC summit in two weeks’ time is that we shall succeed in cultivating greater awareness of the major potential that lies in our partnership, but also to make progress on specific issues: for example to agree joint positions in preparation for the climate conference in Paris in December this year, or on the agenda for development policy after 2015, with particular reference to the objectives of combating poverty and promoting schooling.

Ladies and gentlemen,

For many decades, the European Parliament has sought to strengthen relations with Latin America and the Caribbean States. And we shall continue to do so! At present we are particularly concerning ourselves with the implementation of the free trade agreements with Columbia and Peru and the Association Agreements with six Central American countries. These agreements represent decisive progress in our alliance with important countries which are growing rapidly: they open up new opportunities for key sectors of our industry, while also bringing about improvements in the field of environmental, labour and human rights standards. The news that the FARC has ended its ceasefire is causing us great concern. The European Parliament calls on all sides to de-escalate the situation and return to the negotiating table. After five decades of violence, the people of Columbia deserve peace at long last!

I wish to make no secret of the fact that we are extremely concerned about Venezuela. Economically and socially, the country is in an increasingly parlous state, and political polarisation is increasing by the day. On the other hand, there is a ray of hope from Cuba. We hope that we shall soon be able to develop our relations with Cuba more fully and we stand ready to support the Cuban people in modernising and democratising their country.

Ladies and gentlemen,

For 40 years, regular and on-going cooperation has continued between European, Latin American and Caribbean Parliamentarians. This dialogue has built bridges between our continents and our peoples; we have been able to increase confidence and cooperation. We have succeeded in establishing an institutionalised interregional dialogue, as well as a network of bilateral and subregional association agreements and free trade agreements. Now the time has come to take further steps and, on the basis of our shared values, to jointly pursue our strategic interests and solve global governance problems. I hope that, in the next two weeks, we can make progress in that direction.

Thank you for your attention: I trust that your debates will be interesting and worthwhile.