América Latina e Caraíbas

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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).

  • Latest update

    In October 2008, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Dominican Republic, being members of the Forum of the Caribbean Group of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (CARIFORUM), signed the CARIFORUM-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU). Haiti signed the agreement in December 2009, but has not yet applied it, as it still has to be ratified.

    The first objective of Article 1 of the Agreement indicated that the EPA is expected to contribute to “the reduction and eventual eradication of poverty through the establishment of a trade partnership consistent with the objective of sustainable development, the Millennium Development Goals and the Cotonou Agreement” but also to promote regional integration, economic cooperation and good governance, and to improve CARIFORUM States' capacity in trade policy and trade-related issues.

    In the context of the implementation of this EPA, the ILO Decent Work Team (DWT) for the English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean based in Trinidad and Tobago put together, with the financial support of the EU, the project “Support to Facilitate Participation of CARIFORUM Civil Society in the Regional Development and Integration Process: Challenges to CARIFORUM Labour, Private Sector and Employers to Fulfil their EPA Obligations”. It targeted all CARIFORUM countries and was to be implemented between 2015 and 2018. This project is herein after referred to as the “ILO-EU Project”.

    CARIFORUM Civil Society in the Regional Development and Integration Process
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    The Implementation of Article 232 CARIFORUM-EU Consultative Committee
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    At the dawn of the new millennium, the European Union (EU) wanted to change profoundly its economic and commercial relationship with the countries of the Africa-
    Caribbean-Pacific (ACP) with whom she had a privileged relationship. This relationship was hitherto based for a quarter of a century on a traditional vision support to the former British and French colonies through the opening non-reciprocal nature of the European market to products originating from these countries. This arrangement was gradually considered ineffective and not in accordance with the rules of the international trade. This led the EU to favor a new approach neo-liberal inspiration, nuanced by a certain consideration of the differences in between the EU and ACP countries. It has in fact acted, through the Economic Partnership (EPA), to put in place free trade agreements between
    the EU and large ACP regions, de jure demanding a strong reciprocity with openness from 2008 ACP markets to products (goods and services) originating in the EU.

    Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) as a support tool for ACP countries in their economic development strategy and market: the case of the CARIFORUM-EU EPA
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    The OECS and IOC are two small regional integration and cooperation organizations, respectively, founded by small island ACP States to support them in their economic and social development efforts, and which have subsequently opened up to a certain degree of differentiated participation in French overseas territories in a context of evolving international and commercial relations.
    In this article, we propose a comparative analysis of these two organizations and this participation, highlighting the common points, but also the important legal, political, socio-economic and financial differences.
    The first part is devoted to the comparative analytical presentation of the two organizations, before going on to discuss in a second part the question of the participation of French Overseas Territories and its differentiated modalities. The conclusion provides an overall assessment of observed dynamics.

    Regional Integration and Participation of French Overseas: A Comparative Analysis of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) and the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC)
  • Document type
    Joint declaration
    Latest update
    Joint Declaration
  • Document type
    Final declaration
    Latest update
    Final declaration
  • Speaker
    Altagracia Jiménez Paniagua
    Organisation
    CSA/TUCA
    Presentation - 9th meeting latin america caribbean - Altagracia Jiménez Paniagua
  • Published in
    6 pages

    The EESC’s activities in Latin America takes place in the framework of European Union (EU) policy on the region and, more specifically, through the strategic partnership between the EU, Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), negotiations on association agreements with Central America, Mexico, Chile and Mercosur, the free trade agreement with Peru and Colombia and the EU-Brazil strategic partnership.