Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-11-14-Speech-3-076"
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"en.20011114.5.3-076"2
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". – Mr President, I wish to begin by thanking Mr Salafranca Sánchez-Neyra for his excellent report. I should like to express my recognition of the arduous task that he has undertaken, namely to synthesise the different aspects of our relations with Latin America. This report looks forward in an ambitious effort to give more vitality and further impetus to our already intense relationship with Latin America. The report takes a comprehensive approach to the objectives that should be pursued within the wider scope of our relations and the Commission completely shares this focus.
I should like to thank Parliament for this valuable contribution. With reports such as this, Parliament continues to present a clear vision of what our relations should be with a region which is developing closer political and economic links with the European Union.
Finally, I am fully aware that some questions were addressed to Mr Patten. I am sure he would like to provide written answers to the questions from Mr Medina Ortega in particular, but also to those from other speakers, and I assure Parliament that it will receive a full reply within the next few weeks.
Political, economic and cooperation aspects cannot be dissociated from each other if we want our relationships to develop in a balanced way. In this context, one of the major advances in recent years has been the establishment of a strategic bi-regional association, agreed upon at the first summit for Heads of State and Government of the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean. The report underlines the importance of the priorities decided upon at the summit and uses them as a springboard to propose specific objectives in the political, economic, social and cultural fields.
In the political field, we support and share the desire to enlarge our bi-regional political agenda and to update the ministerial political dialogue. Political dialogue is the central instrument for structuring and giving content to the strategic association. This strategic association builds on common values which include diversity, tolerance, humanism and solidarity; it should allow both regions to assert their common positions and converging interests on international and multilateral issues of great transcendence.
Many of these issues are addressed in the report and some of them, such as the prevention of conflicts and the fight against terrorism, have just taken on a new meaning. In the economic, financial and commercial field, I cannot but share your wish that the negotiations in progress with Chile and the Mercosur conclude with success as soon as possible. The entry into force of the agreement concluded with Mexico is already having a very positive impact on our commercial relations and on our investment. But I believe that we should be careful about using the same schemes that we are applying to Mercosur, Chile and Mexico for other regions of Latin America. We should always take into account the particular characteristics of each region, its level of economic development, the structure of its commerce and the level of regional integration which it has reached. For this reason, we have undertaken a thorough study of our present and future commercial relations with Central America and the Andean Community. On the basis of that study we shall be able to decide how to continue developing our economic and commercial relations with those regions.
Turning now to the cooperation issues dealt with in the report, I should start by mentioning the positive impact that the implementation of the external aid management reform will have. The new programming and management mechanisms will increase the coherence, complementarity and efficiency of cooperation programmes.
I should also like to make it clear that the emphasis on social aspects – in particular health, education and the fight against poverty – is a priority for the Commission too. We are currently promoting a forum for an exchange of ideas between the different actors in civil society on issues relative to social equity, so that its conclusions may be submitted to the Madrid Summit. Social equity should be central to the dialogue between Heads of State and concrete initiatives in that field ought to come out of this summit.
I am grateful for the support given to Commission initiatives in the fields of education and culture. Before the end of the year, the Commission intends to adopt an ambitious scholarship programme so that postgraduate Latin American students can complete their studies in Europe. I am equally grateful for the support of the rapporteur and this Parliament for the programme aimed at enhancing the participation of Latin America in the information society.
I hope I have made it clear that the Commission shares the majority of the objectives set out in the report and that we very much appreciate the quality and ambitious nature of the proposal it contains. I nonetheless wonder whether it is necessary to adopt a common strategy to achieve those objectives. We must bear in mind the dynamic nature of our relations. That dynamism results to a large extent from the vast array of regional and sub-regional mechanisms available to us. These allow us to develop a flexible political dialogue which is easily adaptable to current circumstances and priorities.
The vitality of our relations is largely the result of our decision to move forward on the basis of a strategic association built upon a relationship between equals. The priorities of that strategic association are defined by the Heads of State and Government of both regions. I therefore believe that before launching any new initiatives we should ensure that the process we have just started continues to develop and builds progressively on the present dialogue and association relationship."@en1
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