European Union cooperation for development in Latin America: Spanish action in light of a dark past and an uncertain future

The Spanish presidency of the EU in the first half of 2002 and the second summit of heads of state and of government between Europe and Latin America and the Caribbean coincide with a period of revision of the Community’s policy on cooperation for development in general and with the need for defining the specifics of the proposal for a bilateral strategic relationship announced at the first summit, which took place in 1999. Taken as a whole, the countries of the European Union are the principal donors to the region, but the lack of an overall strategy, dispersion, and a lack of coordination of bilateral policies has reduced their effectiveness and the weight given cooperation in relations dominated by trade negotiations and financial issues. In order to strengthen its role as a driving force in biregional relations, Spain will have to work on behalf of greater consistency among European external, economic, and development policies toward Latin America and integrate them into strategies of regional and global reach in cooperation with the most important players