Madrid and Valencia: Latin America and the Mediterranean in the Spanish Presidency. The Latin American and Mediterranean Agendas Compared

The two major events in External Relations that took place during the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union were: the V Euro-Mediterranean Conference (Valencia, 22-23 April) and the II European Union (EU) - Latin-American and Caribbean (LAC) Summit of Heads of State and Government (Madrid, 17-18 May). The influence of the Spanish Presidency in the developments and outcomes of these events will be assessed.

The main difficulty of this exercise derives from the fact that the two policies and events that will be compared are of a completely different nature; the EU-Mediterranean relations are part of a proximity policy, while this is not the case in the EU-LAC relations. The implications of this difference are of the utmost importance and justify that the policies and treatment granted to each region have nothing to do with each other.