EU-CELAC: partners in crisis management?

Issue Alert by José Luengo-Cabrera, José Antonio Sanahuja and Francisco Verdes-Montenegro Escánez.

Cooperation in crisis management remains a relatively unexplored topic in the bi-regional relationship between the EU and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean states (CELAC). However, with UN peacekeeping operations currently overstretched, Washington’s increasing proclivity to ‘lead from behind’ and the growing need to address transnational security threats multilaterally, there is a rising demand for regional actors to act in concert.

While the EU has assumed an increasingly prominent role as an international security provider, CELAC continues to look inwards as a result of the regionalised character of its security agenda. Moreover, recent developments have prompted the EU to refocus on its southern and eastern neighbours, thereby temporarily diverting its attention from external partners. Nevertheless, crisis management cooperation (CMC) has begun to flourish at bilateral level between the EU and individual CELAC countries.

ESO: Background information: EU-CELAC summit, 10-11 June 2015 http://www.europeansources.info/record/eu-celac-summit-10-11-june-2015/

EU: EEAS: The EU's relations with Latin America and the Caribbean http://www.eeas.europa.eu/lac/index_en.htm

Website: Community of Latin American and Caribbean states (CELAC) http://www.celacinternational.org/

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