The Declaration of the 4th CELAC-EU Summit, held in Santa Marta, Colombia, sets out a coherent set of principles and commitments to fundamental rights in a context marked by open conflicts, tensions between major powers and a growing dispute over strategic resources, markets and the rules that define the international order.
Furthermore, we cannot analyse it in isolation from the fact that, in both the European Union and in Latin America and the Caribbean, far-right movements with authoritarian and conservative approaches are gaining ground on fundamental issues such as gender equality, migration, civil rights and international governance.
In this context, the differing positions expressed by some governments are not merely a technical nuance, but reflect political agendas that challenge the meaning and validity of fundamental democratic principles. This is not a matter of denying the legitimacy of pluralism, which is an essential part of democracy, but of recognising that the differences are not limited to nuances, but rather express agendas that challenge the scope of rights, institutional independence and the validity of multilateralism.
Democracy and human rights: a weakened consensus
The Santa Marta Declaration clearly affirms democratic principles and the validity of human rights. However, it cannot be ignored that several of the governments that have signed it are, within their own countries, promoting policies that restrict rights, weaken institutions and undermine basic democratic standards.
In this context, the Declaration does not express a solid consensus, but rather an agreement that coexists with dynamics that erode it. The affirmation of common principles loses its force when there is no correspondence with the national trajectories of the signatory states, which introduces a tension between shared discourse and actual practices.
This disconnect limits the political scope of the partnership, as concrete mechanisms are required to give substance to and follow up on these commitments. This entails creating effective spaces for participation, establishing monitoring instruments, and developing clear criteria for the defence of basic democratic guarantees against potential setbacks.
The absence of these mechanisms undermines the Declaration’s ability to guide joint action. Without minimum conditions for enforceability, the principles set out are open to flexible and even contradictory interpretations, which reduces their capacity to influence the conduct of states.
Promoting a more consistent relationship between discourse and practice is therefore not a secondary consideration, but a prerequisite for the partnership to have political substance. Without such coherence, the Declaration risks becoming merely a declaratory framework that affirms principles it fails to uphold or promote effectively.
Multilateralism and the international order
The Declaration of the 4th CELAC-EU Summit reaffirms the commitment to multilateralism, international law, the United Nations Charter and the peaceful settlement of disputes. However, these principles are set out in a context in which their application is increasingly selective and, in many cases, openly arbitrary.
Ongoing conflicts, unilateral responses and the persistence of double standards have weakened the international system that the Declaration itself claims to defend. The European Union advocates a rules-based order that it does not always apply with the same consistency, whilst Latin America and the Caribbean fail to articulate a common position with a real capacity to influence its redefinition.
This situation introduces an underlying tension: it is not merely a matter of reaffirming multilateralism, but of recognising that today it functions unevenly and that its crisis is not merely the backdrop, but an integral part of the problem.
Within this framework, the Declaration affirms fundamental principles but avoids questioning the conditions and the actors that systematically violate them, as well as the power dynamics that drive the configuration of an international order increasingly based on force. This omission limits its political scope and reduces its capacity to contribute to an effective defence of the principles it sets out.
Energy transition: a conditional opportunity
In the Declaration, the energy transition is identified as one of the priority areas for cooperation between the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean. It is linked to investment, infrastructure development, and the articulation of value chains associated with renewable energy and clean technologies.
However, in the current context, the energy transition is also a field of geopolitical contestation. The EU seeks to secure access to critical minerals and reduce its energy vulnerability, in competition with other powers, while, for example, the United States is moving along a regressive path in this area.
The reference to value chains coexists with a reality in which Latin America and the Caribbean continue to occupy the role of suppliers of strategic resources, and the Santa Marta Declaration does not address this pattern in bi-regional relations. The absence of clear commitments in terms of industrialisation, technology transfer, or the development of local capacities is far from insignificant. It reflects a relationship in which control over technology and value added remains concentrated outside the Latin American region.
In truth, the energy transition will only be an opportunity if it acknowledges this structure and promotes initiatives to change it. Reproducing current conditions of dependency and primary commodity reliance is not viable.
The transition also represents an opportunity to tackle the climate crisis. However, if a fairer and more sustainable model is to be achieved, a systemic and global approach must be adopted—one that takes into account the economic and socio-environmental impacts of the transition in regions such as Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as the historical and structural inequalities and forms of violence that underpin them. A genuinely just and green transition cannot be limited to replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy. It requires a profound transformation of systems of production and consumption, prioritising global justice, human rights, and environmental justice. To this end, the EU must assume responsible leadership that does not focus solely on European geopolitical and commercial interests, but instead places at its centre the experiences and needs of countries and communities in the Global South, promoting equitable collaboration that respects both people and the planet.
Trade and persistent asymmetries
The Declaration reaffirms its commitment to strengthening bi-regional trade and developing value chains. However, it avoids addressing the concrete conditions under which this trade takes place. The relationship between the two regions continues to be marked by an unequal structure.
Europe exports high value-added goods and demands ever higher standards, while Latin America and the Caribbean remain concentrated on the export of raw materials and primary products. Environmental and regulatory standards, although necessary, also operate as mechanisms of conditionality that the region faces without equivalent capacities.
The complexities surrounding the Mercosur–EU Agreement reflect the difficulties in moving towards a less asymmetrical and more balanced relationship. While initial steps have been taken, it remains to be seen whether they will be consolidated. However, it is not only this trade agreement that must be reconsidered, but the overall terms of trade between the two regions.
In this context, the language of partnership conceals the fact that, without changes in the conditions of exchange, economic integration tends to reinforce existing gaps rather than reduce them.
Global Gateway: instrumento de cooperación o de posicionamiento
Global Gateway is the European Union’s main investment and cooperation instrument in the region. However, its significance goes beyond the economic sphere, as it also serves as a tool for positioning in global competition.
Through this initiative, the EU seeks to secure a presence in strategic sectors and to compete for space with other actors, particularly China. It is not merely about cooperation, but about a strategy in which the key issue is not only investment and collaboration, but the conditions under which they take place.
If it is geared solely towards securing access to resources and markets without enhancing the region’s productive capacities, it will reproduce the existing logic. Only if it incorporates technology transfer, industrial development, and the effective participation of Latin American and Caribbean countries can it take on a different character.
Security: an agenda with risks of imbalance
La Declaración de la IV Cumbre enfatiza la cooperación en seguridad, particularmente en la lucha contra el crimen organizado, el narcotráfico y el tráfico de armas. Este enfoque responde a problemas reales, pero su formulación es incompleta. La atención se concentra en el control y la capacidad operativa, mientras se deja en segundo plano el papel de los circuitos financieros y económicos que sostienen estas redes. Esto no es un tema menor.
Una parte significativa del lavado de activos y de las estructuras que permiten la circulación de capitales ilícitos se ubica fuera de América Latina y el Caribe, a pesar de lo cual la Declaración no plantea con claridad esa corresponsabilidad.
Existe el riesgo de que la cooperación refuerce un esquema donde América Latina y el Caribe asume el costo del control, mientras los centros financieros mantienen márgenes de opacidad.
Migration: rights recognised, persistent tensions
The Declaration recognises migration as a complex phenomenon that requires a rights-based approach. However, this recognition coexists with increasingly restrictive policies in the European Union.
While a humanitarian approach is affirmed, control measures are being consolidated that limit mobility and reinforce borders. The Declaration does not resolve this contradiction. Instead, it contains it within diplomatic language that avoids confronting the underlying tension between rights and control.
Care as a strategic axis of development
The Santa Marta Declaration incorporates the issue of care and recognises its importance both for gender equality and for the organisation of social life. This acknowledgement introduces a relevant dimension into the understanding of development, as it partially shifts the emphasis away from economic accumulation towards the sustainability of life and the redistribution of time, work, and resources.
However, this progress remains largely declaratory. The inclusion of care does not translate into concrete commitments or clear definitions regarding financing, institutional frameworks, or cooperation instruments that would enable care policies to be sustained at national or regional level. Although the unequal burden of unpaid care work—borne primarily by women—is recognised, this acknowledgement is not accompanied by operational measures to address it effectively.
This absence limits the transformative scope of the proposal. Incorporating care as a principle without providing the material conditions for its implementation weakens its potential as a structuring axis for new development strategies.
In a context of multiple crises—economic, social, and environmental—care cannot be understood as a complementary field. It constitutes an essential social infrastructure for the sustainability of societies. The Declaration recognises its importance but does not advance in defining the conditions necessary for this recognition to be translated into effective policies.
By way of conclusion
The Santa Marta Declaration addresses the main issues in the bi-regional relationship but does so while maintaining a level of formulation that allows agreements to be upheld without specifying the implications those issues have for each of the parties.
From this point onwards, the challenge is to equip this agenda with instruments that make it possible to structure the relationship in the very areas the Declaration identifies as priorities. This entails moving forward with initiatives that provide continuity: the development of sector-specific roadmaps, the creation of bi-regional monitoring mechanisms, the identification of concrete projects in energy transition and care, and the inclusion of participatory spaces that allow the commitments undertaken to be given real substance.
The advancement of the bi-regional relationship will depend on the capacity of both regions to activate such instruments and to translate the agreed agenda into sustained processes of cooperation.
The opinions expressed in this blog are exclusively those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of the EU-LAC Foundation