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China, the EU and Latin America : current issues and future cooperation
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60 China theEUandLatinAmerica:CurrentIssuesandFutureCooperation regions henceitscharacterisationas biregional .Ontheonehand itis assumedthatLatinAmericaandtheCaribbeanformasingleregionthatspeaks withonevoice anassumptionthatcan only beconsidered purepolitical fiction and ontheotherhand thatthereisanEUof27membersthat even thoughitisthemostadvancedintegrationprocessintheworld isnotalways capableofspeakingwithonevoiceaboutinternationalissues. Ultimately EULACsummitsaremeetingsof60representativesofvery differentstates with diverseagendasandinterests which although held dutifullyeverytwoyears producefewconcreteresults beyondtheobligatory declarationsbasedonthesharedvaluesthesetworegionsaresupposedto uphold.ThetenthanniversaryoftheEULACmechanismwascelebratedduring thelastEUPresidencywiththeformatthatprevailedbeforetheentryintoforce oftheLisbonTreatyinDecember2009 whichmeantthatitwasinthehandsof Spain acountryforwhichtieswithLatin AmericaandtheCaribbeanarevery importantandwhichhasservedasthemainpromoterofsuchrelationswithintheEU. Ifthetruthbetold aftertenyearsofthesocalled strategicbiregional association theformathasprovedtobeawkwardandisnowoldandobsolete. Thetwolevelstrategy valuesandinterests doesnotseemlikelytoholdfor muchlonger.Itisnotastrategicrelationship itisnotabiregionalrelationship anditishardlyatrueassociation.Asthingsstand the naturalalliance isno longerarealityinthispartnershipanditisalsosafetosaythatEuropesregionalisation strategyinLatinAmericahasfailed onlyaddingtowhatisperceivedtobeanormative andjudgmentalapproach basedondoublestandards. Themainissueisstillthesame:EuropewantsLatinAmericatobewhatit cannotbe:asingleregion aregionwithnoinequality aregionwithdeveloped democracies aregionthatrespectstheenvironment aregionthathaseconomic sustainabilityandsoon.Mostofthesethingsareunattainableforthetime being or atleastthey will not be achieved via foreign pressure and conditionality.LatinAmericaisdiverse unequallydeveloped nevertoopoor nevertoorich withmanyconflictsbutofadifferentnaturefromthosewhocall forintervention.Theconversation then islopsided.Lastbutnotleast even thoughtheUSApaidlittleattentiontoitstraditionalbackyardundertheBush administration itsstrategyofsigningbilateralagreementswithmanycountries intheregionbasicallykilledtheEuropeanregionalisationandgrouptogroup negotiationstrategyforgood.Inthatsense whenLatinAmericansdemandfrom EuropeansfreetradeagreementsandaccesstotheEuropeansinglemarket it meansthattherestofthemanybeautifulinstitutions asortof mobile that