The participants had significant trouble coming to an agreement over what to include in a joint declaration of the summit: the EU parties wanted a strong condemnation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, while some of the CELAC parties maintained strong relations with Russia and wished to avoid making such a statement.[5][1][13][12][4][14] In addition, many of the CELAC countries wanted to address the issue of paying reparations for slavery, an idea which received pushback from the EU countries, with Irish taoiseach Leo Varadkar pointing out that not every European country had colonies or partook in the slave trade.[15][16][17][18]
In the end, the summit managed to produce what El País described as a "lukewarm condemnation of the war" that made no mention of Russia, despite attempts by Nicaragua to block such a condemnation.[19][3][20][21][d] In addition, although the final declaration did not commit to the payment of reparations, it stated that the parties "profoundly regret" the suffering that the slave trade had caused.[19][16][21] Furthermore, the parties agreed to hold summits every two years, with the next meeting scheduled to be held in Colombia in 2025.[19][22]
Not much progress was made on the trade agreement; it was only briefly mentioned in the final declaration.[8][17] European diplomats were hoping for commitments addressing their concerns about the environment, after Brazilian former president Jair Bolsonaro had allowed the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest to reach a 15-year high.[5][22][13] Their CELAC counterparts demurred, stating that environmentalism should not be used as a pretext for protectionism.[5][15] Some of the EU countries have also voiced concerns about the possible flooding of beef from countries such as Argentina and Brazil.[5][22]
Reactions
Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who also held the pro tempore presidency of Mercosur during the summit, remarked that he had "rarely seen so much political and economic interest from the EU countries towards Latin America" and considered the summit "extremely successful".[23][14] European Council president Charles Michel said that he had left the summit "feeling that we had done our duty".[20]
British prime minister Rishi Sunak condemned the EU because the final declaration of the summit had used the term "Islas Malvinas" next to the term "Falkland Islands", which led a spokesperson for the EU to clarify that the union had not changed its position regarding the islands.[24][25]
Gallery
Participants in the Europa building on the first day of the summit
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