The Diplomat
The Council of Ministers last Tuesday approved, at the proposal of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, two voluntary contributions to the International Foundation European Union-Latin America and the Caribbean (EU-LAC) and the Euroamerica Foundation for a total amount of 59,000 euros.
On the one hand, the Government authorized a contribution of 50,000 euros to the EU-LAC Foundation, an institution created during the VI Summit of Latin America, the Caribbean and the European Union (LAC-EU), held in Madrid in 2010 and precedent of the current Summit between the EU and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (EU-ELAC).
The objective of the EU-LAC Foundation is to strengthen and promote the bi-regional strategic association between the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean. In May 2019, it acquired the status of an international intergovernmental organization with the entry into force of its Constitutive Agreement. The foundation’s activity is organized on the basis of a multi-year work program (2021-2024) and subsequent annual programmes, which are approved by its Board of Directors, made up of all member states. Since 2016, the Foundation has focused on prioritizing activities of the EU-CELAC Action Plan and thus helping to develop the bi-regional association.
At the meeting of the Board of Directors in November 2022, the foundation’s work program for the year 2023 was approved, which is articulated around six thematic areas: knowledge, gender equality, fair transitions, youth, culture and accompaniment to dialogue. high-level bi-regional This last issue has been directly related to the preparations for the recent EU-CELAC Summit, which this week held its third meeting in Brussels within the framework of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU.
On the other hand, the Council of Ministers authorized a voluntary contribution from Spain to the Euroamerica Foundation, amounting to 9,000 euros. The Euroamerica Foundation is a European organization based in Spain, created in 1999. Its objective is to stimulate cooperation and understanding between European and Latin American institutions, companies and personalities to promote, mainly from the private sector, relations between Europe and America and enhance opportunities for cooperation between both shores of the Atlantic.
“The relationship Spain-Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), as well as the triangulation of this relationship with the European Union, constitutes a priority axis for Spain’s foreign policy,” said the Executive. “In 2023, the deepening of the EU-LAC bi-regional strategic relationship is of special interest, as Spain assumes the rotating Presidency of the Council of the EU and as one of its priorities is the relaunch of relations between the two regions,” it concluded.
