CELAC did not support the point of the EU statement condemning Russia in the conflict in Ukraine
The European Union failed to impose a final statement condemning Russia over the Ukrainian issue on the countries of the Latin American and Caribbean Community (CELAC) during a two-day summit in Brussels.
At a press conference after the summit, European Council President Charles Michel called the adopted declaration a “political success” in his opening remarks, but preferred not to mention Ukraine at all due to disputes between the participants over the Ukrainian conflict.
Earlier it was reported that Latin American countries, even at the stage of preparation of the meeting in Brussels, did not want to allow significant attention to be paid to the issue of Ukraine at the expense of important for them issues in relations with the EU. As a result, the “Ukrainian issue” was reduced to general phrases without mentioning Moscow.
“We stand before you now with a sense of accomplishment and with the feeling that we are opening a promising future page in the EU’s relations with Latin America and the Caribbean. A few moments ago, we reached agreement on an ambitious declaration that covers a wide space for our future cooperation. This declaration was supported by all countries except one, which could not give its consent because of one paragraph. This signifies the political success of this meeting,” Michel said.
The reference to one country’s disagreement with one paragraph of the final declaration is also in the document itself. This point turned out to be the 15th paragraph of the declaration, which refers to the Ukrainian conflict. In it, the parties neutrally supported “all diplomatic efforts” to end the conflict in Ukraine and never mentioned Russia.
“We express deep concern about the ongoing war against Ukraine, which continues to cause immense human suffering and exacerbates existing problems in the world economy… In this sense, we support the need for a just and sustainable peace… We support all diplomatic efforts aimed at achieving a just and lasting peace in accordance with the UN Charter,” reads the 15th paragraph of the 41-paragraph declaration.
Earlier it was reported that the leaders of the European Union and CELAC on Tuesday for a long time could not agree on the final declaration, one of the main stumbling blocks was the conflict in Ukraine. Due to the disagreements, the final press conference was delayed for almost two hours. Sources reported that among the CELAC countries, Nicaragua, which is considered an ally of Moscow, voted against condemning Russia’s actions in Ukraine; Bolivia, Cuba and El Salvador abstained; and Venezuela did not vote.
In addition, it was noted that there was an active debate over the reference to Europe’s colonial past in Latin America and the Caribbean in the text of the document, which was one of the main demands of the President of CELAC and Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines Ralph Gonsalves. There was also a reported attempt on the part of the Caribbean countries to include in the final declaration the issue of reparations for the slave trade.
Here too, however, it was limited to “deep regrets” for the suffering of men, women and children because of the transatlantic slave trade, which was described as a “crime against humanity.”
“Not everyone got everything they expected, but in the end we agreed on a declaration,” interim CELAC head Ralph Gonsalves summarized the outcome of the meeting.
According to Michel, during the two days, the participating countries worked actively to enhance cooperation on climate change, biodiversity protection, digital and green transformation, economic, trade cooperation, and investment.
“The decisions mentioned in the declaration are important for our future,” explained the European Council President.
Michel also added that the leaders agreed to convene EU-Latamerica and Caribbean summits every two years.
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