The selection of the Young Researcher project is done through a call published on the EU-LAC Foundation networks and website.
The impact of Eastern Enlargement on the European Union’s foreign policy towards Latin America and the Caribbean (2004-2016)In the late 1990s, the advanced process of Eastern enlargement motivated the emergence of a debate regarding the future of the EU’s foreign policy towards Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC).
Widespread views affirmed that, as a result of the accession of Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs), the EU would become less interested in fostering relations with LAC. Opposing views argued that the EU’s enlargement towards the East entailed more opportunities than risks from a Latin American standpoint.
This contribution is aimed at determining how, if at all, EU Eastern enlargement affected EU foreign policy towards Latin America and the Caribbean, since 2004 until present days.
The analysis of the values and priorities orienting EU foreign policy towards this region as well as its main developments during the period under study revealed, on the one hand, that the EU was able to expand to the East, while simultaneously develop a stable and valued-based foreign policy towards LAC, and on the other hand, that Eastern enlargement has had no major transforming role in the formulation or implementation of EU foreign policy towards this region.