EuroLat: serious concern about migration and support to multilateral trade

In a joint declaration on the occasion of the twelfth plenary session of the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (EuroLat), the two co-presidents of the assembly, Javi López (S&D, Spain) and Jorge Pizarro, insist that inequality “is the main challenge our democracies are facing” and point to the growing distrust in politicians and the subsequent rise of populism and nationalism.

They believe that reducing social inequalities and strengthening social cohesion should be a priority. Access to quality essential public services, such as education, health and justice, must therefore be guaranteed. Parliamentarians also propose working towards an economic model based on innovation and the circular economy, combined with progressive tax systems and an effective fight against fraud and evasion.

The text underlines the role of civil society in building democracy and respect for human rights and calls for political opponents, social leaders and activists to be able to operate safely.

Climate, natural disasters, wars and social injustice, causes of migration

Parliamentarians are seriously concerned about the worsening migration phenomenon in both regions and in the world as a whole, which they attribute to climate change, natural disasters, wars and political conflicts, but mostly to social injustice. This affects huge groups suffering from food insecurity, unemployment and violence, without support from the state.

They refer to the difficult situation in Venezuela, where more than 4.6 million people have fled the country, according to UN agencies.

To tackle the migration challenge, they demand political dialogue and financial support to the most affected countries. They also request more visibility and awareness to be raised about the political causes which have led to this situation.

Concern about protectionism and trade wars

The declaration highlights the commitment to a multilateral trade rule-based system that is open and transparent, reliant on WTO rules, as opposed to protectionism and trade wars. It emphasises that trade agreements must respect high social, environmental, labour and food safety standards.

Parliamentarians reiterate both regions support this approach and welcome progress to reach new deals, such as EU-Mercosur, update the existing ones or extend them to more countries.

COP25 in Madrid, tipping point against climate change

In view of accelerating climate change, the international community must intensify its efforts to combat it through concrete commitments. López and Pizarro support the European Parliament’s plan for the EU to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 and set an emissions reduction target of 55% by 2030.

Resumption of EU-CELAC summits

Parliamentarians stress the importance of strengthening bi-regional cooperation at the highest level and, on this point, call on governments “to resume as soon as possible the EU-CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) summits,” which were interrupted in 2015. The final objective, they add, is to achieve a genuine bi-regional strategic partnership.

Twelfth plenary session of EuroLat

The 150 members of the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (EuroLat), 75 MEPs and 75 representatives of the Latin American and Caribbean parliaments, gathered in Panama City on 12 and 13 December for its twelfth plenary session. It was the first EuroLat meeting since the European elections in May 2019. Many of the members of the European Parliament delegation to the Assembly are new, and they are headed by a new European co-president, Javi López (S&D, ES).

Background

The Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (EuroLat) is the parliamentary institution of the Bi-regional Strategic Association established in June 1999 in the context of the EU-CELAC Summit (between European Union-Latin American and Caribbean). EuroLat was created in 2006. It meets in plenary session once a year.

EuroLat is a multilateral Parliamentary Assembly composed of 150 members, 75 from the European Parliament and 75 from the Latin America, including Parlatino (Latin American Parliament), Parlandino (Andean Parliament), Parlacen (Central American Parliament) and Parlasur (Mercosur Parliament). The Mexican and Chilean congresses are also represented via the EU/Mexico and EU/Chile joint parliamentary committees.