EU-CELAC SUMMIT/END EU, CELAC leaders agree on areas of cooperation, compromise on Venezuela

Record ID: 150915

  • Title: EU-CELAC SUMMIT/END EU, CELAC leaders agree on areas of cooperation, compromise on Venezuela
  • Date: 11th June 2015
  • Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (JUNE 11, 2015) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF EUROPEAN COUNCIL EU FLAGS
  • Embargoed: 26th June 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Belgium
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA2OAXRHBXUX66TEYNESGBY4LF7
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Unable to match China's offer of $250 billion in investment in Latin America, the European Union sought ways on Thursday (June 11) to avoid being marginalised in the region, offering new trade deals, visa-free travel and deeper ties.
    At a two-day summit with Latin American leaders in Brussels, European leaders briefly put aside concerns about Greece, Ukraine and Britain's future in Europe to stress they had not forgotten former colonies.
    The EU's meeting with the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States follows China's summit six months ago with the 33-country bloc, at which President Xi Jinping pledged $250 billion in investment over 10 years.
    Struggling with the impact of a debt crisis that nearly broke up the euro zone, Europe has little fresh cash to invest.
    Instead it is opting to use its influence as the world's largest trade bloc, gradually creating a patchwork of deals. EU officials said that, as China's demand for Latin America's commodities lessens, Europe has a chance to reassert itself.
    The EU agreed with Brazil to again try to unblock long-stalled talks with the South American trade bloc Mercosur, committing to exchange offers on opening up their respective markets by the end of this year. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom had negotiations with the countries involved.
    "She told me that things are moving in the good and right direction and I am hopeful that they can be concluded," he told reporters at a news briefing.
    Despite U.S. sanctions on Venezuela, the EU avoided criticism of socialist President Nicolas Maduro, who is facing civil unrest and did not attend the summit.
    Venezuela's socialist ally Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa rejected any rebuke of Maduro, saying the U.S. position describing Venezuela as a national security threat was "absurd".
    ''As far as Venezuela is concerned, we know about the executive order with the absurd argument that Venezuela is an imminent threat to the security of the United States. Once again, they are interfering in the domestic affairs of a sovereign country and now they are acting in an illegitimate and illegal manner because those unilateral sanctions clearly break with the American charter," Maduro told reporters.
    Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy expressed frustration, saying as he left the meeting:
    "The conclusions of the summit, or of any meeting where you have so many people, are logically always difficult to converge and I think... We are 28 countries in Europe and 33 in Latin America and Caribbean here, and you always have to look for compromise. My position on this issue is exactly the same as what I said yesterday and as always. I believe that the future of Venezuela is in dialogue, democracy, freedom, and the respect for the law. This is what we want for Spain, this is also what we want for the people of Venezuela and other people of Latin America."
    The EU and Brazil discussed plans for a $185 million undersea communications cable from Lisbon to Fortaleza to reduce Brazil's reliance on the United States. Brazil wants to shield its Internet traffic from U.S. surveillance after Washington spied on Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff's phone and email.
    Rousseff reacted to an unexpected rise in Brazilian inflation in May as food and electricity prices jumped, raising the odds of further interest rate hikes by the central bank despite a likely recession.
    "I am quite worried because our objective is to tackle inflation and we will tackle it. Brazil cannot live with a high inflation, it cannot and it will not," she said.
    Brazil's already-elevated inflation has accelerated while the economy tumbles, costing hundreds of thousands of jobs in recent months.
    Economists widely see the economy sliding into recession this year as policymakers curb spending and raise interest rates.
    "We have, we do counter-cyclical policies to prevent us seeing a level of unemployment and a loss of revenue such as those seen here in Europe, and now we are getting out of this period of adjustment, a fundamental macro-economic adjustment, a fiscal adjustment," Rousseff said.
    Other agreements at the summit included five Caribbean states winning visa-free travel to Europe, with Colombia and Peru next in line.
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