Home

The Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (EuroLat) held its fifteenth meeting in Madrid from 24 to 27 July, one week after the 17-18 July summit meeting of the leaders of the EU and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in Brussels. The EuroLat Assembly took place at the seat of the Senate of Spain.

On 24 July, H.M. King Felipe VI of Spain received the Members at the Palace of El Pardo.

Whereas the committees and some working group and fora met on the following day, with the opening session on 26 July, the Assembly was formally inaugurated by speeches given by the President of the Senate, Ander Gil, the President of the Congress of Deputies, Meritxell Batet, the Co-Chairs of EuroLat, MEP Javi López (S&D, ES) and Colombian congressman Óscar Darío Pérez as well as the Acting Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares Bueno.

The EuroLat plenary session took place on 27 July, where reports and recommendations adopted in advance by the various committees and working groups were voted on. Some of the topics included the fight against hate speech, the regulation of digital platforms, the challenges posed by COVID-19 in education and health, access to water, the fight against organised crime as well as on trade negotiations.

The Assembly closed with a formal session on that same day.

For this purpose, the Eurolat Bureau agreed at its Meeting on 3 July 2023 on a joint Message of the Eurolat Co-Chairs, Javi López and Oscar Dário Pérez, to address this summit.

The message focuses on the relaunch of EU-CELAC relations, the importance of concluding pending bilateral trade and association agreements, on revitalizing multilateralism, the strict compliance with international law and respect for the resolutions of the General Assembly of the United Nations, on stepping up the efforts to overcome the consequences of the multiple crisis (inflation, food security, health, migration and energy) and intensifying measures to counter climate change.

The two Co-Chairs highlight the importance of regularly holding EU-CELAC Summits of Heads of State and Government to strengthen the Bi-regional Strategic Association on common themes and priorities that allow improving the lives of citizens.

On the occasion of their participation the third European Union (EU) - Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) Summit in Brussels on 17 and 18 July 2023, the Co-Presidents of the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (EuroLat), Javi López and Óscar Darío Pérez, would like to express the following considerations:

We welcome that, after eight years, the third EU-CELAC Summit is being held with strong participation from Heads of State and Government, demonstrating the strong commitment of both regions to profoundly strengthen bilateral relations.

We reiterate the importance of holding regular EU-CELAC summits of Heads of State and Government in order to strengthen the Bi-Regional Strategic Partnership as regards common topics and priorities to improve citizens' lives.

In this regard, we welcome the agreement to hold summits every two years, with the next summit taking place in the CELAC region in 2025, as well as the establishment of a permanent coordination mechanism between the EU and CELAC to ensure continuity and follow-up between meetings.

We reaffirm our support for the various regional integration processes in Latin America and Europe as a basic principle of the Bi-Regional Strategic Partnership, namely the Association Agreement between the European Union and Central America, the Association Agreements with Mexico and Chile and the Association Agreement between the EU and Mercosur.

[...]

The last meeting of the Eurolat Executive Bureau took place on 3 July 2023 in a semi-hybrid format.

Topics for discussion included the appointment of new Vice-Presidents, the endorsement of the plenary agenda of Eurolat Madrid as well as a consideration and adoption of the message to the EU-CELAC summit.

This message to the third EU-Summit has been published in the Communiqués and CELAC-EU Summits section.