O Comité Económico e Social Europeu (CESE) realizará o 9.º Encontro dos Representantes da Sociedade Civil Organizada da União Europeia e da América Latina e Caraíbas na Cidade do Panamá, em 3 e 4 de outubro de 2017. O encontro, que terá lugar no âmbito da preparação para a 9.ª Cimeira de Chefes de Estado e de Governo da União Europeia, da América Latina e das Caraíbas, permitirá aprofundar o diálogo entre as organizações da sociedade civil da UE e da ALC, promover o reforço destas organizações e chamar a atenção dos chefes de Estado para o ponto de vista da sociedade civil organizada.
América Latina e Caraíbas
O CESE tem colaborado com organizações homólogas da América Latina e das Caraíbas desde a década de 1990. Vários pareceres do CESE incidiram sobre as relações com esta região, a nível regional, sub regional e nacional. As prioridades do CESE incluem o desenvolvimento de organizações da sociedade civil, o desenvolvimento económico e social, a integração regional e a cooperação na esfera multilateral.
A nível regional, o CESE organiza encontros bienais entre representantes das organizações da sociedade civil da Europa, América Latina e Caraíbas, como um dos eventos preparatórios que antecedem a Cimeira UE-CELAC.
A nível sub-regional e nacional, foram criadas diversas estruturas permanentes: em 2009, o CESE criou uma mesa-redonda da sociedade civil com o Conselho Económico e Social do Brasil, a fim de proporcionar um fórum para o diálogo e a cooperação contínua entre os representantes da sociedade civil brasileira e europeia. O Acordo de Associação UE-Chile atribuiu ao CESE um mandato para a criação de um Comité Consultivo Misto com o seu homólogo da sociedade civil chileno para acompanhar o acordo, que foi finalmente criado em 2016. No que respeita aos países da Comunidade Andina, o CESE participa no Grupo Consultivo Interno que acompanha o acordo de comércio livre UE Colômbia, Peru e Equador. Participa também no Comité Consultivo Cariforum-UE que acompanha o Acordo de Parceria Económica Cariforum-UE. Foram estabelecidas relações permanentes com os homólogos institucionais do CESE no Mercosul (o Fórum Consultivo Económico e Social) e a América Central (o Comité Consultivo do Sistema de Integração da América Central).
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During the meeting, the members of the DAG debriefed on the results of the meeting with Colombia and Peru under the Trade and Sustainable Development Title, which took place on 7-8 December in Brussels . The representatives of the European External Action Service (EEAS) presented information about the EU relations and cooperation with Colombia and Peru. The Representatives of the DG Trade informed the members of the DAG on recent developments regarding the Trade and Sustainable development chapter as well as on their recent mission to Ecuador. The Group held then an internal debate on the topics to be selected for the next joint meetings, on the state of play of constitution of DAGs in Colombia and Peru and on the rights of indigene communities in Peru.
The 8th meeting of the EU Advisory Group for the EU-Central America Association Agreement will take place on February 1st in Brussels.
During the meeting, the EU Domestic Advisory Group (EU DAG) and civil society representatives from Colombia and Peru will discuss implementation of the Trade and Sustainable Development Title of the Trade Agreement, with a particular focus on respect for international labour and environmental standards. They will also discuss economic, social, environmental and human rights impacts resulting from the implementation of the Agreement. The participants will reflect moreover on how the civil society from the EU, Colombia and Peru can cooperate to promote sustainable development in the context of trade relations and prepare for the next joint meeting. The participants may adopt a joint declaration summarising outcomes of their discussion and present it to the Parties during the open session planned for 8 December.
During the meeting, the representatives of the European External Action Service (EEAS) will present information about the EU relations and cooperation with Colombia and Peru. The EU DAG Chair will inform the Group about the outcomes of the civil society meeting organized in Bogota on 6 October 2016 with a view of establishing the Colombian DAG. Moreover, the Commission representative will provide information about the Ecuador's accession to the Agreement, as well as about preparations for the next meeting with Colombia and Peru under the Trade and Sustainable Development Title planned for 7-8 December in Brussels. The Group will hold then an internal debate to choose topics for the meeting with Colombia and Peru and to organize cooperation with civil society in both countries
On the 4th and 5th of October 2016 the first meeting of the EU-Chile Joint Consultative Committee took place in Santiago, Chile. The JCC is contemplated in Article 10 of the EU-Chile Association Agreement and it is the last provision that has yet to be executed. An EESC delegation composed of nine members and presided by Ms. Pavic-Rogošic will be meeting the recently constituted Chilean Council. The rules governing the JCC will be agreed upon during this time and a work program encompassing the priorities of civil society in the relations between the EU and Chile will be defined. The JCC will be constituted at a key time in the relations between both political authorities in the context of the upcoming Modernization of the Association Agreement.
During the meeting, the Commission representative will provide information about the ex-post evaluation of the EU-Korea FTA, as an example of an evaluation of a trade agreement being in force. A similar evaluation of the implementation of the trade pillar of the EU-Central America Association Agreement is scheduled for 2018 and the EU Advisory Group would like to prepare for its future contribution to that process. The Commission will also discuss with the Group the follow-up to the meetings with Central America held in Honduras in June 2016 and the preparation for next year's meetings, which will take place in Brussels. The Group may also have an opportunity to discuss with the ILO representatives implementation of the project related to respect for labour standards, funded by the EU and delivered by the ILO in El Salvador and Guatemala.
This year's joint meetings between the EU and Central America under the Trade and Sustainable Development Title of the Association Agreement commenced with a workshop on market access. The participants discussed opportunities provided by the Agreement and challenges faced by the economic operators, in particular SMEs. Separate sessions focused on fair trade and value chains as ways facilitating market access for SMEs and small producers. On 16 June, the representatives of the EU and Central American Advisory Groups exchanged experience in their up-to-date operation and discussed proposals for strengthening capacity of the civil society monitoring mechanism, the role of the Parties in this context and future cooperation. This was followed by Civil Society Dialogue Forum where civil society representatives from the EU and Central America asked questions and expressed positions with regard to implementation of the Association Agreement and its impacts.
During the meeting, the Commission representative provided information about the implementation of the project on labour standards delivered in cooperation with the ILO in El Salvador and Guatemala. The Commission also informed about preparations for meetings with Central America planned for 15-17 June in Honduras, in particular meeting of the intergovernmental Board on Trade and Sustainable Development. The EU Advisory Group then discussed preparations for the civil society meetings with Central America, which this year will include a workshop on market access, a joint meeting of the Advisory Groups and an open Civil Society Dialogue Forum. In the afternoon, a video-conference with Central American partners took place to discuss preparations for joint meetings.
During the meeting, the EU DAG had an opportunity to discuss with Mr. Helmut Scholz, Member of the European Parliament, implementation of the Trade and Sustainable Development Title and work of the civil society monitoring mechanism in the framework of the EU-Colombia and Peru Trade Agreement. Moreover, the representatives of the European External Action Service (EEAS) presented information about the EU relations and cooperation with Colombia and Peru. Based on the Second Annual Report, the Commission representative provided information about the implementation of the Trade Agreement, changes in trade flows and work of joint bodies. He also informed about the procedures and timeline related to Ecuador's accession to the Agreement.