ETA swoops cast pall over EU-Latin America summit

Date: 23/05/02

Recent events mean it won't be one big salsa party at the EU-Latin American summit in Madrid this weekend.

Far from it, as David Cronin reports.

SOME 48 leaders will gather in Madrid this weekend for a summit that was supposed to be a celebration of cultural diversity and the cordial links between the EU, Latin America and Caribbean.

The pre-summit atmosphere was soured yesterday (15 May) when Spanish police discovered arms and explosives believed to have been destined for an attack on the leaders by armed separatist group ETA.

Police arrested five men and a woman in the towns of Eibar and Hondarribia, near the French border, and found 200kg of explosives, detonators and automatic weapons in a house used by the suspects.

The six were also wanted in connection with the February murder of Basque socialist leader Fernando Buesa.

The arrests came just a day after police swooped on two suspected ETA activists in Madrid, seizing arms and a car bomb.

A third suspect escaped.

Interior minister Mariano Rajoy blamed ETA's so-called 'Madrid Command', also thought to have been behind a car bomb blast outside the Bernabeu football stadium before the 1 May Champions League semi-final involving Real Madrid and Barcelona.

The news only served to add to the subdued atmosphere already surrounding the build-up to the summit opening.

Recent upheavals in two of Latin America's most populated countries had ensured that anyone craving photo-opportunities with heads of state showing off their salsa steps was already likely to have been disappointed.

Riots in response to a devastating recession helped trigger the resignation of two Argentine presidents since last year. And, last month, Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chavez was ousted in a military coup, only to be returned to office - amid mass street protests - two days later.

European Commission officials admit the current political instability in South America and latest ETA swoops will cast something of a pall over the summit, even though they stress that a 'business-as-usual' attitude must prevail.

However, the woes besetting Buenos Aires have caused at least a partial setback to work on reaching a free trade agreement with the 'Mercosur' countries of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

A senior EU official pointed out that the Argentine crisis is 'not directly a trade problem' as it primarily concerns its domestic economy. But it is having a spillover effect, making it more difficult for the Mercosur bloc to define common trading rules.

Even though the EU is the biggest aid donor to Latin America, granting about 500 million per year, it has ruled out a special package of macroeconomic assistance for Argentina to help cushion the blow of recent events.

Nevertheless, achieving an EU-Mercosur trade accord would be of immense symbolic significance, as it would be the first of its kind between two common markets - which will have a combined population of more than 710 million after the Union's enlargement.

Therefore, the summit will not be entirely bereft of 'good news'.

And it is virtually certain to announce the conclusion of an agreement with Chile, even if the formal signing may have to wait a little longer for technical reasons.

Negotiations have been tricky, though. For Santiago, one of the most controversial aspects of the deal relate to its drinks sector. The country accounts for some 5% of the world's vineyards and wine exports - most of which go to Europe - are worth 680 million a year.

Chile wanted a period of grace under which it could continue marketing products with 'geographical indicators' such as Champagne, Cognac and Burgundy, but EU negotiators were not keen to allow this.

In the end, Santiago got a concession: it will have five years to phase out such labels within the international market and 12 years on the home front.

There has also been some disquiet at the prospect of Europeans now being able to wholly own fishing companies in Chile, ending the current threshold under which foreigners can have a maximum stake of only 49%. But the agriculture lobby has generally concurred with President Ricardo Lagos, who hailed the accord as a model for neighbouring states. Fruit growers have voiced satisfaction, for example, about the elimination of EU tariffs on Chilean apples and grapes.

The arrests of ETA suspects will ensure that the fight against terrorism, which was already high on the agenda, will have even greater importance attached to it.

Spanish premier José María Aznar has asked his British counterpart Tony Blair to give a presentation on the subject.

One area of potential tension, though, is on the definition of what constitutes a terrorist group. Colombian President Andres Pastrana has made plain his unease over the EU's failure to include the country's Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) on its list of proscribed organisations.

Several member states have been reluctant to bow to pressure from Bogotá over this issue, believing such a move will not encourage a fresh start to the country's stalled peace process.

But Pastrana is adamant there can be no compromise on this issue, citing the recent FARC rocket attack on a Bellavista church, which cost more than 100 lives.

In a message directed at the Union's leaders, he said: 'It was an act of genocide, a massacre. No event such as this would have happened in any other country without being described as terrorism.'

In the US, the very mention of the name FARC sends blood pressure levels soaring in Washington.

Signals have emerged, though, that EU policymakers may be willing to change their tune on FARC. Spain's Foreign Minister Josep Piqué has said the case for branding the guerrillas as terrorists may have to be considered when the Union's list is next updated.

Among the illustrious visitors expected in the Spanish capital is Cuba's Fidel Castro, who has been playing host to a visit by former American President Jimmy Carter this week.

Cuba is the only Caribbean country with which the EU does not have a 'cooperation agreement' because it is not considered a functioning democracy.

However, around 16% of Cubans have benefited from 125 million in aid from the EU's humanitarian budget since 1993 and there are signs that the Union no longer sees Havana as a pariah.

The Spanish presidency welcomed last week's release of dissident Vladimiro Roca, declaring: 'The EU trusts this decision will not be the exception, but rather the first step toward the liberation of other prisoners of conscience who remain imprisoned.'

Major preview of the EU-Latin America and Caribbean Summit, Madrid, 16-18 May 2002.