The Diplomat
Madrid hosts from today until Thursday, July 27, the fifteenth meeting of the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (EuroLat), a week after the celebration in Brussels of the third Summit of leaders of the EU and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).
During these four days, the parliamentary representatives of the two regions will have the opportunity to evaluate the results and conclusions of the EU-CELAC Summit, the first since 2015. Likewise, the participants of this Assembly will be received today in audience by King Felipe VI in the Palace of El Pardo.
The Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (EuroLat) is the parliamentary institution of the Bi-regional Strategic Association of the European Union-Latin America and the Caribbean and meets in plenary session once a year. The last plenary meeting took place in April 2022 in Buenos Aires. The Assembly is made up of 150 members: 75 MEPs and 75 representatives of the parliaments of Latin America and the Caribbean, including Parlatino (Latin American Parliament), Parlandino (Andean Parliament), Parlacen (Central American Parliament), Parlasur (Parliament of the Mercosur) and the mixed parliamentary commissions of Chile and Mexico.
The Board of Directors (formed by two co-presidents and fourteen co-vice-presidents) coordinates its work and activities and is in charge of relations with the EU-CELAC Summit, the EU-LAC Foundation and the ministerial conferences. On the occasion of their participation in the last 3rd EU-CELAC Summit, the co-presidents of the EuroLat Parliamentary Assembly, Javi López and Oscar Darío Perez, already had the opportunity to speak and address their joint message to the Heads of State and Government.
The main activity of the EuroLat Assembly will take place at the headquarters of the Senate. The opening speech at the inauguration, which will take place on Wednesday at 11:15, will be given by the acting President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez (pending confirmation). The president of the Senate, Ander Gil, will give the welcoming words, while there will be interventions by the president of the Congress, Meritxell Batet, and the co-presidents of EuroLat, the MEP Javi López (S&D, Spain) and Colombian congressman Óscar Darío Pérez. After this session, a press conference will take place in the Hall of the Lost Steps of the Senate.
The plenary session of the EuroLat Assembly will take place on Thursday, July 27, and during it, reports and recommendations previously prepared on Tuesday 25 by the different commissions and working groups that make up EuroLat will be debated and voted on. Some of the topics include the fight against hate speech, the regulation of digital platforms, the challenges of COVID-19 in education and health, access to water, the fight against organized crime, trade negotiations and the universal declaration of the rights of nature.
The session will close on Thursday at 1:30 p.m., with the keynote address by the acting Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares. Likewise, Ander Gil, Javi López and the president of the Central American Parliament (Parlacen), the Panamanian Amado Cerrud, who will be elected during this fifteenth Assembly as president of the Latin American component of the EuroLat Assembly, will take part.
