The European Union (EU) and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) share a long history of political dialogue and bi-regional cooperation in which development has always played a key role. Both regions also share a commitment to multilateralism and cooperation and have collaborated at the regional and global level towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) by September 2015.
In 2015, both regions will need to work jointly to determine new goals and targets for sustainable development in the post-2015 framework. This will raise considerable challenges for development cooperation between these two regions as well as for cooperation with other countries and regions. Given the changes that have occurred since the establishment of the MDG both within the two regions and on a global scale, the present situation as well as the capacities, responsibilities and aspirations of both regions within a post-MDG context need to be analysed. Both regions have to understand how global and regional developments have affected their strategic partnership and and how they can cooperate so as to effectively shape the new global governance of development.
Based on an agreement with the UE-LAC Foundation, this study aims to address two major objectives: firstly, the study examines the new framework for post-2015 cooperation and the agenda for the sustainable Development Golas (SDG), taking into account the new priorities established by the multilateral framework, the bi-regional relation and the new EU framework of cooperation for development initiated with the “Agenda for change”.
Secondly, the study aims to analyse the roles of the EU and LAC within this new framework based on their Strategic Partnership and the inter-governmental EU-CELAC process and to identify how the two regions could continue to cooperate within this context.
In order to work towards these objectives the Complutense Institute of international Studies (ICEI) of the Complutense University of Madrid and the Chair of International and Ibero-American Cooperation of the University of Cantabria (COIBA) have collaborated in organising a multidisciplinary team of specialists from both regions. Its members include as joint directors and researchers, professors José Antonio Sanahuja (Complutense University of Madrid, Spain) and Sergio Tezanos Vázquez (University of Cantabria, Spain), and as researchers, professors Alejandra Kern (San Martin University, Argentina) and Daniela Perrotta (Buenos Aires University), Jorge Hernández Moreno, Fiorella Werniche and Débora Fagaburru have collaborated as research assistants on this project.