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China, the EU and Latin America : current issues and future cooperation
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14 China theEUandLatinAmerica:CurrentIssuesandFutureCooperation TheCommission wishestosendapositivesignalindicatingthatEuropeis interestedintheregion.Therewouldappeartobeanerroneousperceptionthatthe EUistooabsorbedbyitsownenlargement itsimmediateneighboursorproblems elsewhereintheworld.Thisperceptionalsoraisestheissueofthevisibilityofthe EUontheground giventhecomplexityofitsstructuresanditsmeansofaction. TheCommissionwishestoreaffirmthattheassociationwithLatinAmericaisnot merelyamatteroffactbutisalsovitalfortheinterestsofbothregions forboththe presentandfuture.However ifEuropeisreadytocommititselffurthertoLatin America italsoexpectsafirmcommitmentinreturn EuropeanCommission2005 3.1 EuropeanCFSPandNewChallenges ThereseemtobemajorproblemswiththeCommonForeignandSecurity Policys CFSP structureandtheformatoftherelationship tothepointofa growingdisenchantmentonthepartofthepartnersinLatinAmerica.Onthe onehand theEuropeanCFSPdemandshighperformingcounterpartsinLatin AmericawiththeabilitytounderstandandhandlethethreeEuropeanstrandsof commonand intergovernmentalpartsofforeignpolicyontheEuropean leveland memberstatesexternalrelationsatthenationallevel.Onthe otherhand thestrategyofinterregionalismisopeningupnewroadsofbilateral arrangementswhichareunderminingtheoriginalconceptofpoliticaldialogue. Atthesametime wearewitnessingtheemergenceofnewleadingnationsinthe regionwhicharetobetheobjectsofmajorattentionfromtheCommissionandin futurecouldtakeonsomesortofregionalrepresentation. Nowadays someobserversarecharacterisingEULatinAmericanrelations asa relationshipwithoutemotions .Thisistrueinsofarastheemotionalparts ofthisoldbiregionalassociationhavebeensuffocatedatthepoliticalleveland neglectedatthesociallevelon bothsidesofthe Atlanticforalongtime. Therefore newconstitutiveelementsonthepoliticallevelandin civil society arerequiredtogroundandembedthestrategicrelationship. HerearesomeessentialelementsoftheprojecttoreformtheEuropean LatinAmericanrelationship: Theimpracticabilityofsummitdiplomacymust beovercome ;( TheRioGroupnolongerfunctionsasarepresentativeofall LatinAmericanpartnersandneedstobereformed ;( Thereseemstobeaneed fordifferentiationinEuropesexternalrelations aswellasinintegrationpolicy ThebilateralagendainEuropeandLatin Americaincludesmostly soft topics which meansthattopicssuchassecurityarenotcovered bythe cooperationagreement ;( Themixingofthetopicsofthepoliticaldialogue agendawiththoseofthedevelopmentagendacreatesconfusionbetweenthe