Brussels, July 18, (dpa/GNA) – Leaders of the European Union, Latin America and Caribbean, face the difficult task on Tuesday of finding a common position on Russia’s war in Ukraine, at a summit in Brussels.
EU states have been lobbying for more solidarity with Ukraine, and aim to include a condemnation of the war in a joint declaration, to be published at the end of the meeting.
However, the left-wing authoritarian states Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, strong supporters of Russia, are also at the negotiating table in Brussels.
“It is important to say that you can’t rewrite history, that the Russians attacked Ukraine, that’s a fact,” said Luxembourg’s Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, commenting on the ongoing negotiations.
“You have to stand by the truth,” he added.
Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, said he would prefer to have no joint statement rather than “language that doesn’t mean anything” if it would come down to it.
“I feel pretty sure that we will come to a favourable conclusion,” said Ralph Gonsalves, prime minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. He is chairing the group of over 30 Latin American and Caribbean states represented in Brussels.
Some of the larger economic powers, including Mexico, Argentina and Brazil, have also been more hesitant to support Ukraine than the EU.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and Argentinian President Alberto Fernández, have condemned the Russian aggression, but refrained from imposing far-reaching sanctions on Moscow.
Instead, they have repeatedly emphasized the consequences of the war, for example on food and energy prices around the world. Many Latin American and Caribbean leaders are calling for peace talks.
Other topics discussed at the two-day summit include the stalled free trade agreement between the EU and the Mercosur countries Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
Many leaders pledged on Monday, to finalize the deal by the end of the year, despite unresolved concerns on environmental protection and unfair competition.
On the sidelines of the summit, Chile and the European Commission signed a partnership agreement to strengthen cooperation on the provision of raw materials to Europe.
Brussels has its eye on critical raw materials naturally occurring in Latin America, and in high demand in the EU for the bloc’s transition away from fossil fuels and towards a more climate-friendly industry.
GNA