Reaction to the European Commission Communication on EU, Latin America and the Caribbean
7 May 2019
On 16 April, the European Commission released a Communication on the EU’s political partnership with Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), focusing on four priorities – prosperity, democracy, resilience and effective global governance. PLATFORMA reacted to this communication in a “first analysis“.
PLATFORMA states that the EU should further recognise the strategic role of local and regional governments. They are responsible for many tasks towards their citizens and territorially, financially and institutionally impacted by many national policies and legislations.
A multilevel partnership between the EU, Member States and local and regional governments is necessary to ensure policy coherence between policies developed at local and national levels, as acknowledged in the EU Urban Agenda.
Background
The EU has been the largest provider of development cooperation to Latin America and the Caribbean: between 2014 and 2020, the EU is allocating around €3.6 billion in grants for bilateral and regional programmes focusing on critical areas such as security and the rule of law; inclusive economic growth for creating jobs; environmental sustainability and climate change; public financial management reform, public sector modernisation, and regional integration; and agriculture, food and nutrition security. The ‘Joint Communication’ comes 10 years after the last major EU strategy for the region.
Check the European Commission press release.