The turbulent and uncertain global context has altered the priorities of the European Union. Two powers, China and the United States, are competing for hegemony, and Europe needs to forge alliances with other regions in order not to lose its place in the world.

The region with the greatest affinities with the EU is Latin America and the Caribbean, not only because of the values and principles they share, but also because of what they can offer one another. It is within this new, more balanced, win-win dimension that both regions are striving to relaunch their strategic partnership. The biennial EU–CELAC Summits respond to this objective, overcoming the long period of estrangement that had existed for years, in order to focus on shared challenges and on the solutions that can be addressed jointly.

In this new phase, the emphasis is placed on strengthening democracies, advancing the green and digital agendas, securing critical raw materials and creating value chains in countries of origin, as well as on trade agreements that organize markets under fair international rules, fostering growth and competitiveness for all parties. The clearest examples of the latter are the modernization of the European Union–Mexico Agreement and the European Union–Mercosur Agreement, which, once concluded and signed by the European Commission and the Council, as well as by the presidents of the four Mercosur countries, is now awaiting ratification by the respective parliaments of both regions.

To discuss all these issues—the progress made in Euro–Latin American relations and, of course, the challenges and obstacles that still need to be overcome—the European Parliament Delegation to the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (DLAT) and the Euroamerica Foundation will hold, at the premises of the European Parliament in Brussels, the Sixth High-Level Seminar on 23 February, entitled “At the current geopolitical crossroads, is there a role for the European Union in Latin America?”, with the participation of experts and leading figures from both regions.