Beyond 2015: Perspectives and Proposals for Development Cooperation between the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean

The European Union - Latin America and the Caribbean Foundation (EU-LAC Foundation) was created as a result and initiative of the VI Summit of Heads of State and Government in May 2010 and formally began operating in November 2011.

With its headquarters in the city of Hamburg, Germany, the Foundation now consists of 33 member states from Latin America and the Caribbean, 28 member states from the European Union as well as a representative of the European Union as a whole. A total of 62 members.

The aim of the Foundation is to transform and adapt the strategic partnership between the European Union, Latin America and the Caribbean -adopted in 1999 - into a strengthened and visible reality where the respective societies in both these regions can actively participate.Abstract:
The European Union (EU) and Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) have a long history of political dialogue and bi-regional cooperation in which development has always taken a central role. Both regions also share a commitment to multilateralism and cooperation and have collaborated at regional and global levels in working towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) by September 2015.

In 2015, both regions will be required to work jointly on setting up new goals and targets for sustainable development in the post- 2015 framework. This will raise considerable challenges for development cooperation between these two regions and with other countries and regions. Given the changes that have taken place since the MDG were first drawn up, both within the two regions and on a global scale, there is currently a need to consider the present situation, the capacities, responsibilities and aspirations of both regions within a post-MDG context, and to reflect on how this affects them and how together they can influence the new global governance of development.

According to the EU-LAC terms, this study aims to respond to two major objectives: firstly, to examine the new framework for post-2015 cooperation and the agenda for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), given the new priorities established by the multilateral framework, the bi-regional relation and the new EU framework of cooperation for development initiated with the “Agenda for Change”. Secondly, it proposes to analyse how the EU and the LAC fit within this new framework and in the context of their Strategic Association and the inter-governmental EU-CELAC process, identifying how regions could continue to cooperate within this context.

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