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CELAC-EU summit: Latin America’s influence is growing [1]
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Date: 2023-07
Latin America’s growing role on the global political chessboard was emphasised during talks with the EU in Brussels last week.
The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) and the European Union (EU) met for the first time in eight years at a summit marked by dissent over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
European representatives, acting as one, proposed that the final declaration should include a formal rejection of Russia’s aggression. But they were faced with 33 countries from a very heterogeneous region that maintain diverse alliances with the powers involved in the war. And the agreement that was eventually reached is evidence of the bloc’s desire to form closer ties with Latin America. The final text does not explicitly condemn Russia and mentions the war only in paragraph 15 – with no mention of Russia.
The fact that the war in Ukraine dominated the agenda did not go down well with CELAC representatives, not least because it overshadowed a debate promoted by Caribbean countries on reparations for centuries of colonialism and slavery, and the announcement of major EU investments in the region.
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In Europe, the stance of some Latin American countries – who see the conflict as an opportunity to assert their autonomy when negotiating their interests with Russia, China or other countries – causes anxiety. In Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe's position has not gone down too well because of the double standards, arrogance and hypocrisy the former colonial powers have historically exercised over the region.
“We cannot make this summit between the European Union and CELAC a summit about Ukraine,” argued CELAC president Ralph Gonsalves, prime minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, at the final press conference.
Urgency of EU energy needs
Europe’s most urgent reason for reaching out to Latin America and the Caribbean stems from the current rift with Russia. The region offers new energy opportunities that aren’t fossil fuel imports from Russia, putting Latin America in a rare position to negotiate one-on-one with the EU, a long-standing ambition of the region.
The region is a potential powerhouse for renewable energy production, and already produces twice the global average from renewables. In fact, the EU emphasised its interest in green hydrogen by announcing investment projects in Latin America and the Caribbean totalling 45 billion euros until 2027 through its Global Gateway initiative. These include investing two billion euros in Brazil – which has one of the least carbon-intensive energy sectors in the world – and an initial 225 million euros in Chile to develop a renewable hydrogen fund.
Brazil, the region’s largest economy, also leads clean energy efforts in other areas: it is one of the main generators of jobs in the renewable energy sector and one of the leaders in installing wind power. In this way, the summit also offered Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva an opportunity to promote his ambitious diplomatic goals.
In Brussels, unlike in previous instances, Lula avoided defending Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, opting this time to question Europe’s prioritisation of investing in war to the detriment of other more global emergencies, such as climate threats.
The Brazilian leader’s change of attitude shows that interest in negotiations with the EU is a priority. The interest is reciprocal, as European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has emphasised in recent days.
Role of China
Closer ties with Latin America are also necessary for the EU for broader reasons.
While Europe and the US have focused on the conflicts in the Middle East and Afghanistan over the past 20 years, China has dedicated itself to increasing its influence in Latin America, the world’s leading commodity exporting region. Trade between China and Latin American countries saw a 26-fold increase between 2000 and 2020, from $12bn to $315bn.
Although the US remains CELAC’s main economic partner, the country has already been replaced by China in several key countries – for example, China is now Brazil’s main trading partner. The summit’s announcement of billion-dollar projects for Latin America is no coincidence; the Global Gateway is widely interpreted as an alternative to China’s ‘Belt and Road’ infrastructure investment initiative.
Although both initiatives still carry more weight in theory than in practice, Latin America can take advantage of the moment of renewed interest in the region to advance forward-looking projects, by being able to negotiate on several fronts with the different world powers.
Mercosur-EU agreement
Perhaps the main opportunity opened up by the summit was outside its official agenda and was negotiated in parallel meetings. It is the new impetus for talks on the signing of the free trade agreement between Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) and the EU, which, despite being finalised in 2019, has not yet been ratified.
Negotiations, which began back in 2000, stalled thanks to Jair Bolsonaro, the Brazilian president who promoted the most damaging environmentalist policy of the country’s democratic era, and the reluctance of some European bloc countries (led by France) that fear for their domestic agricultural industries.
The negotiations hit a new obstacle in March, when the EU proposed an addendum that tightens environmental commitments on deforestation and the Paris climate agreement. South Americans criticised the proposal; some in Brasilia even called it colonialist.
Lula used the summit to informally negotiate the obstacles and convince his European peers of the urgency of approving the Mercosur agreement by the end of this year, before the 2024 European Parliament elections. The EU has shown renewed interest in signing the agreement following the arrival of Lula and his promises of environmental protections.
“Brazil’s re-emergence on the world stage is timely. Let’s partner to fight climate change and build greener and fairer societies with #GlobalGateway. And above all, let’s close the EU-Mercosur deal," von der Leyen tweeted.
But the window of opportunity is short. Geographical distance and a wide range of other priorities meant that discussions dragged on for two decades. The same may happen again if stakeholders do not act soon.
At first glance, the results of the CELAC-EU summit may appear modest. But it has highlighted Latin America’s growing autonomy, and demonstrated the opportunities for the region in the coming decades will be less and less conditioned by its historical legacies.
Latin America is far from being able to act as a bloc, but it increasingly holds more cards to defend its interests autonomously.
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https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/celac-eu-summit-latin-america-mercosur-new-opportunities/
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