Despite the fact that this Monday only started in Brussels with bilateral meetings and a meeting between the leaders of the EU and the Caribbean, the difficulties of reaching a consensus between the 27 European Member States and the 33 countries of the Latin bloc have already known. the closing statement.
In the most recent version of the final statement, which the Lusa agency had access to and is still under negotiation, the leaders of both regional blocs agree to “express concern about the ongoing war in Ukraine, which continues to cause immense human suffering”. , but the CELAC countries do not want Russia to be named as the cause of the conflict.
European diplomatic sources told Lusa this is “the biggest point of difference”. That is why negotiations are taking place between the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, the rotating Spanish Presidency of the Council and the Presidency of CELAC, Ralph Gonsalves, who is also Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
“We want to reach the right and balanced compromise, show ambition, and sometimes that means giving in,” they added from both regional blocs.
Specifically, according to the same community sources, while Europeans want a clear reference to Russia in this paragraph about the war in Ukraine, Latin American and Caribbean countries prefer a more general condemnation of the conflict, without specifying.
At stake are the various positions in the Latin American bloc, namely Brazil’s.
Today in Brussels, Brazilian President Lula da Silva criticized the “arms race that makes the fight against climate change even more difficult” and believed that the invasion of Ukraine drains resources that could be earmarked for socio-economic programs.
“Sometimes the negotiations are difficult, especially when it comes to third countries, and it takes time to reach a consensus on a final statement, as happened at the EU African Union Summit,” the European sources tell Lusa.
Another meeting of ambassadors is scheduled for today to discuss this most recent version of the final statement.
More advanced is the consensus on mentioning the EU’s agreement with the Common Market of the South (Mercosur) – formed by Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay – and the most recent document, consulted by Lusa, only mentions that the leaders take note of work in progress.
Despite the fact that there are countries in the community bloc (such as France and Austria) that contest the agreement on commercial and environmental grounds, the Spanish presidency of the EU hopes that the summit will be a starting point for developments in the closure of the EU-Mercosur agreement, which covers 25% of the world economy and 780 million people, almost 10% of the world’s population.
Brussels is hosting today and Tuesday the first EU summit in eight years with the CELAC countries, which will be attended by more than 50 leaders.
This is the third EU summit with CELAC, eight after the 2015 meeting, and will aim to strengthen the partnership between the two regions to prepare them for new challenges.
Source: DN
