Armando G. Tejeda
Correspondent
Newspaper La Jornada
Saturday December 3, 2022, p. 3
Madrid. Josep Borrell, the top diplomat of the European Union (EU), assured during a meeting with parliamentarians from Latin America: We are experiencing a perfect storm, and to navigate in this storm, neither the routes nor the maps of the past are of any use to us. Like the discoverers and conquerors, we have to invent a new world. And our strategic compass has to be recalibrated with full historical awareness to understand the magnitude of the changes we have to face.
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These words were pronounced by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy following a reflection he made on the war in Ukraine, in which he also appealed to strengthen
bilateral relations between both regions.
Borrel delivered his speech last Wednesday, in Brussels, before the European-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (Eurolat), a multilateral body made up of 150 parliamentarians, half of whom come from Europe and the other half from Latin America, that is, from the Parlatino (Latin American Parliament). ), the Parlandino (Andean Parliament), the Parlacen (Central American Parliament), the Parlasur (Mercosur Parliament) and the Congresses of Chile and Mexico.
Borrel focused a large part of his speech on the effects that the war in Ukraine is having on the daily life of the people of Europe and Latin America, which he defined as the perfect Storm
. And then he warned that to navigate in this storm neither the routes nor the maps of the past serve us. Like the discoverers and conquerors, we have to invent a new world
.
Borrell, in tune with the Spanish Executive, the socialist Pedro Sánchez, is working to intensify diplomatic and commercial relations between Latin America and the EU, especially from the second half of next year, in which the Spanish president will occupy temporary presidency of the EU. In this period they aspire to complete bilateral and free trade agreements with the main Latin American regions, especially with Mercosur, Chile and Mexico.
Borrell, after making his analogy with the time of the Conquest, added: At this time of turbulence, in this insecure, unpredictable and dangerous world in which we have to live, the relationship between Latin America and the EU must be strengthened. I think we need each other more than ever.
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The highest representative of European diplomacy also recalled that We were already recovering from the pandemic and once again history surprises us with a terrible, traumatic event, which is once again the war on the borders of Europe, something we thought was forgotten. And certainly it has been 70 years since we Europeans have crossed our swords, as the Spanish classics of the Golden Age said. But now, unfortunately, not far from here, 2,000 kilometers from Brussels, on the borders of Europe, the population Ukraine and its civilian infrastructure are being bombed militarily and I would add criminally by Putin’s Russia. If you look at a satellite map of Europe, you will see it illuminated and you will also see a large black spot in the east that looks like the extension of the sea. But no, it is Ukraine where not a single light shines anymore and where 10 million people have ceased to have access to electricity
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Regarding the relations between Europe and Latin America, Borrell added that “it is not that you need us, nor do we need you. It’s that we need each other. And, like a good couple, the relationship of mutual dependency is mutually beneficial. And we have to be happy that from the beginning we started from a relationship that is based on solid foundations.
We have the densest network of political, cooperation and trade agreements with Latin America than with any other region in the world. Our companies have invested in their economies more than China, India, Japan and Russia combined. We have invested more in Latin America than in all those great economies of the world.
Borrell also expressed hope that the meetings in Mexico between the Venezuelan government and the opposition would bear fruit, by conditioning the progress
in this dialogue to accommodate in the future sanctions policy
that the EU with Caracas is still in force. In relation to Nicaragua, the European diplomat pointed out that the current political crisis can only be resolved there through a true dialogue between the government and the opposition. I ask from here a humanitarian gesture that offers hope. And I hope that my voice, amplified by this Assembly of parliamentarians, is not only heard, but also understood.
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