EU-Mexico Agreement: a powerful union in times of global fragmentation

There is something profoundly symbolic in Mexico and the European Union reinforcing their relationship, just as the world seems to be fragmenting.

While trade wars, geopolitical tensions, and coercive narratives that seek to impose the superiority of some over others grow, the EU-Mexico Summit has sent a very different message: fewer walls and more cooperation. Although it may sometimes seem otherwise, the majority of us still believe that dialogue, cooperation, rules negotiated between equals, and mutual respect remain the best way to progress on a global scale.

And that matters. A lot.

The new Global Agreement signed between the EU and Mexico makes it clear that our relationship can no longer be understood as just another economic liberalization. We are facing a shared political declaration, that of moving forward together in an adverse geopolitical context; a strategic alliance between democracies that share an open and cooperative way of understanding the world, based on values such as human dignity, solidarity, and respect for the diversity of their peoples and the environment.

In the current, increasingly unpredictable global context, trust has become a strategic resource, and the common good an unavoidable priority.

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Precisely therein lies the importance of the new agreement. It is not about simply reducing tariffs or facilitating investments. It is about building a solid relationship between reliable partners, capable of dialoguing with frankness and respect and of responding to the aspirations and concerns shared by citizens.

Leire Pajín:  "We are facing a shared political declaration, that of moving forward together in an adverse geopolitical context"

This Agreement commits us to cooperating in a more structured way in key areas, which seek to strengthen institutional capacity to combat transnational crime, ensure safe and orderly channels for migration, from a rights-based approach; improve education and research by promoting mobility and exchange, or better prepare us for climate and global health crises. A partnership capable of generating economic growth, ensuring ambitious social, labor, and environmental standards.

That is the kind of leadership we need today.

Because the ecological transition, the digital revolution, or the reorganization of world trade are not just economics. They are power. They determine who sets the rules and, more importantly, for whose benefit.

Both regions are committed to cooperating on clean energy to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, reduce polluting emissions, and advance together towards greater energy autonomy.

With this alliance, we will be able to defend together, with greater strength, everything we believe in: democracy, the peaceful resolution of conflicts, human and labor rights, our security in its broadest sense, including health and climate.

Leire Pajín: "

Europe and Latin America have much more in common than we sometimes remember, and our political cooperation is more powerful than some imagine"

In Mexico, in addition to celebrating this historic agreement, we also celebrate the 20th anniversary of the EuroLat Parliamentary Assembly, of which I have the honor of being vice-president. It is a fundamental space for inter-parliamentary dialogue that sustains the relationship between the European Union and Latin America and the Caribbean between summits, and has continued to collaborate even when summits were not held.

 

Europe and Latin America have much more in common than we sometimes remember, and our political cooperation is more powerful than some imagine.

As of today, a new stage begins in the relations between the EU and Mexico, an especially valuable relationship in an increasingly aggressive world, where building stability, progress, and shared autonomy demonstrates intelligence and strategic vision.