Brussels urges Latin America to “take advantage” of EU investments

The European Commission hopes that Latin America know “leverage” the investments that European Union plans to carry out on the continent under the Global Gateway program, and considers that both regions “they need each other” in the current global scenario.

This is the message channeled by the director for Latin America, the Caribbean and relations with all Overseas Countries and Territories in the Directorate General of International Partnerships of the European Commission, Félix Fernández-Shaw, in a round table on the risks and challenges common aspects of democracies in Europe and Latin America, which was attended by other personalities from the political and academic world.

With the summit between the EU and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) held last July in Brussels, “What we have tried is to give a feeling of opportunity”said Fernández-Shaw at the round table held this Monday at the Cervantes Institute in Brussels, within the framework of his activities for the Spanish presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Fernández-Shaw claimed the “fantastic opportunity” that opens in Latin America and the Caribbean with the ecological and digital transitions that are underway, and for which the European Union intends to invest 45,000 million euros (about US$ 49,143 million) in the region.

In his opinion, both processes must consolidate the industrialization of the continent, and they must be implemented in a manner “inclusive”in order to attract women to the labor market and to new, more qualified jobs and reduce social inequalities.

Among the participants was the former president of Costa Rica, Luis Guillermo Solís, who warned, for his part, of the “acute crisis of democracy” that is making its way in Latin America and that, according to him, threatens the stability of the region coinciding with a moment of insufficient economic growth and slow recovery after the downturn of the pandemic.

Solís, who presided over Costa Rica between 2014 and 2018, also views with concern the resurgence of proposals for “firm hand”, headed by the Salvadoran president, Nayib Bukele, to combat the increase in citizen insecurity linked to drug trafficking and organized crime.

The vice dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Costa Rica also showed his concern about the resurgence of nationalisms, the discredit of politicians, the erosion of democracies and the questioning of the United Nations, something that bothers him “scary”.

For her part, former Chilean Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonia Urrejola stressed that, currently, democracies in Latin America no longer perish as a result of a military coup, but rather with a slow “decline that begins at the polls”, with the election of populist leaders.

“The percentage of people who consider it essential to live in a democracy has plummeted, and this is especially true among the younger generations. Support for autocratic alternatives grows”, warned Urrejola, who was also president of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).

In his opinion, this disaffection is largely a consequence, in Latin America, of the failure of the States when it comes to “guarantee minimum security” to people, unmet expectations of progress and societies segmented by inequalities, while recommending that responses be given to their concerns, such as climate concerns.

To intensify relations between the EU and Latin America, Urrejola recommended replicating with other countries the association agreement that Chile has just signed with the community club, which goes beyond trade and includes multi-sector cooperation.

Economist Pedro Caldentey, who directs the EUreCA mechanism under which the EU promotes cooperation programs with Central American countries, also participated in the round table.

Caldentey spoke, in particular, of the existence of “a Central American crisis” and regretted that, in the last 40 years, the countries of the region “they have not managed to eradicate a model of low growth, insufficient employment and low productivity.”

He also pointed out some reasons why he is optimistic about the future development of Central America, the biodiversity that the region houses, the consolidation of green energy in its economies, the growth of the young population and the desire for development of society as a whole. , who are often forced to emigrate.

Before the start of the round table – which was moderated by the EFE Agency delegate in Brussels, Catalina Guerrero -, the Nicaraguan writer Gioconda Belli offered a speech on the importance of rethinking the future from a literary perspective and appealed to “optimistic bias of imagination” to seek solutions that strengthen democracies on both sides of the Atlantic.