EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT TO OPEN OFFICE IN PANAMA​

By Ane Barcos

The decision to establish an office of the European Parliament in Latin America and the Caribbean, initially announced during the III EU- CELAC Summit held in Brussels on July 17 and 18, 2023, was finally ratified last Tuesday, January 16 by the Bureau of the Parliament, which designated Panama City as the seat.

In an official statement, Javi Lopez, co-president of the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (Eurolat), expressed his strong welcome and stressed that the choice of Panama City as the seat of the new office underlines the importance that the European Union attaches to the region, showing its commitment to promote and strengthen the Bi-regional Strategic Partnership based on common principles, values and interests.

In his remarks, the co-president of the EuroLat Assembly underlined the importance of Latin America as “an ally with a high degree of complementarity” and emphasized the shared commitment with the region in the defense of an inclusive multilateral order based on rules.

He also stated that the choice of Panama City to host this office is strategic, since it is also the seat of the Latin American and Caribbean Parliament (Parlatino), a regional, permanent and unicameral body made up of the national parliaments of the region, in addition to having hosted meetings of the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly on numerous occasions.

The opening of this new office of the European Parliament aims to strengthen the parliamentary dimension in the EU’s external representations and in particular in multilateral parliamentary assemblies and international organizations.

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This news was originally published in Aquí Europa, with whose permission we reproduce it.