The EU and CELAC: Reinvigorating a Strategic Partnership

The European Union - Latin America and the Caribbean Foundation (EU-LAC Foundation) was created as a result and initiative of the VI Summit of Heads of State and Government in May 2010 and formally began operating in November 2011.

With its headquarters in the city of Hamburg, Germany, the Foundation now consists of 33 member states from Latin America and the Caribbean, 28 member states from the European Union as well as a representative of the European Union as a whole. A total of 62 members.

The aim of the Foundation is to transform and adapt the strategic partnership between the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean -adopted in 1999 - into a strengthened and visible reality where the respective societies in both these regions can actively participate.Abstract:
his study is the result of a Reflection Process on the future of bi-regional relations between the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean. This process consisted of V Reflection Fora and an on-line consultation, coordinated by the EU-LAC Foundation and geared towards kindling the debate on and integrating different voices to the interregional debate in the run-up to the EU-CELAC Summit to be held in Brussels in June 2015.

During this process, various key actors from both regions – scholars, civil society, ex-government officials, representatives of economic organisations, etc. – were requested to comment on four axes: a) the ways in which the bi-regional dialogue may benefit from the constitution of CELAC as a political platform of regional interlocution and a body to coordinate regional responses, b) the discomfort in democracy in both regions; c) global political economy and “mega-regional” agreements, and d) venues of cooperation in the post-MDGs 2015 framework. These four, we argue, are potential themes of reflection on the future of the bi-regional partnership.