The pillars on which this relationship has been developed are:

The Andean Community and the European Union signed a Joint Declaration on the Political Dialogue, in Rome on June 30, 1996, thus providing an institutional framework for a dialogue that had been conducted informally up until that time.

According to that Declaration, the dialogue would center on biregional and international issues of common interest, to be addressed at meetings between the Chairman of the Andean Council of Presidents, the EU Presidency, and the President of the Commission, when convenient, as well as between the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, other Ministers and government officials.

Numerous meetings have been held since that time, particularly within the framework of the institutionalized ministerial meetings between the European Union and the Rio Group. Not only do they allow for an exchange of ideas about the political and economic situations in the two regions and the prospects for biregional relations, but considerable guidance is given on topics of common interest. It is important to point out that the Andean initiative of reaching an Association Agreement between the two regions took progressive shape through these meetings.

The Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement between the CAN and the EU was signed on December 15, 2003 in Rome within the framework of the European Council.

The Third LAC-EU Summit, held in Guadalajara, Mexico on May 28 and 29, 2004, gave a strong boost to biregional dialogue and the agenda that was addressed highlighted social cohesion. The Summit, furthermore, stressed the importance of the rapid ratification of the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement signed by the European Union and the Andean Community on December 15, 2003 in Rome.

The Andean Community Ministers informed the EU, at the most recent meeting of the Political Dialogue at the Ministerial Level, held in Luxemburg in May 2005, that the Council of Foreign Ministers had adopted the 2003 Agreement through Decision 595 of July 11, 2004.

Insofar as the ratification by the CAN Member Countries of the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement of 2003 is concerned, Bolivia and Ecuador have ratified it and Peru and Colombia are expected to do so shortly.  In the case of the Europeans, fifteen Member States of the European Union have already ratified the Agreement.    

The European Union is the Andean Community’s second most important trading partner. In 2004, 12% of the Andean countries’ total exports went to that market, which supplied 13% of their imports.

The products of Andean Community Member Countries have been benefiting from preferential access to the European Union since 1991, when a special regime of tariff preferences (“Drugs” GSP) was first extended to them as a contribution, under the principle of shared responsibility, to Andean drug control efforts.

As a result of those preferences, almost all of the Andean industrial products and a list of agricultural and fishery goods enter the European market duty free. This has boosted exports, economic growth and employment generation in the Andean Community. The regime, however, is temporary in nature and subject to periodic renewal.

An important change was made in December 2001, with the approval of Regulation (EC) 2501/2001 on the application of generalized tariff preferences between January 1, 2002 and December 31, 2004, a period that was later extended to December 31, 2005.

The regime included preferences for the subregion, as the European Union’s contribution to the Andean countries’ drug control effort. It also provided for the possible renewal of the system of preferences for the 2005-2014 decade, depending on the results of an evaluation, particularly of the observance by the beneficiary countries of ILO core labor standards, their performance in the war on drugs and their effective utilization of the preferences during the 2002-2004 period.

Questioning within the World Trade Organization led to the revision and adjustment of the “Drugs” GSP, with the result that the European Union adopted a new Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) for 2006-2015 and its Regulation (EC) 980/2005 became effective on July 1, 2005.

That Regulation establishes a General Regime, a Special Regime to Encourage Sustainable Development and Governance, and another Special Regime for the Less Developed Countries. The Andean countries benefit from the preferences granted through the Special Regime to Encourage Sustainable Development and Governance (GSP “Plus”) that includes two eligibility criteria: the ratification and implementation of a series of international instruments on human rights, labor rights, the environment, drugs, and corruption; and being classified as a vulnerable economy on the basis of previously defined indicators.

The Cooperation Agreement

Andean-European cooperation has evolved over time. During the 70s, it was confined to trade; in the 80s, emphasis was placed on cooperation for development; and in the 90s, efforts were directed toward building an array of industrial, scientific, technological, and inter-business mechanisms characteristic of advanced economic cooperation.

This Agreement provides the legal foundation for European Union cooperation, as administered by the European Commission. The Mixed Commission, whose functions are to ensure fulfillment of the cooperation actions provided for in the Agreement and to recommend regional projects, among other things, operates as its consultation and coordination body.

By recommendation of that Commission and of the Subcommittees on Science and Technology and on Trade and Industry, important regional projects are being executed within the framework of CAN-EU cooperation, the most outstanding of which are the GRANADU --successfully completed--, Quality, Competence, Statistics, and Disaster Prevention and Relief projects and the “Initiative for Andean Regional Stabilization.”

The new Agreement provides for a structured dialogue on different fronts and takes bioregional cooperation into new spheres that are vitally important to the Andean subregion, like peace and security, democratic governance, the participation of civil society, the social agenda, the environment, and migrations.

The European Union and the Andean Community decided in 1995 to institute a specialized dialogue on drugs, consisting of periodic meetings of high-level technical experts on the subject.

As a result of that dialogue, on December 18, 1995, five bilateral agreements were signed between the CAN and EU Member Countries on the control of trade in chemical substances that can be diverted for use in the production of illegal drugs.

To date, there have been eight meetings of the specialized dialogue on drugs and six on the control of chemical precursors. These meetings have made it possible to follow-up on cooperation in this area and to engage, in application of the principle of shared responsibility, in a fruitful exchange of information and viewpoints.

Attention should be drawn to the fact that at the Sixth Meeting of the Specialized Dialogue on Drugs between the Andean Community and the European Union, held in Cartagena, Colombia on May 28, 2003, the Andean countries issued a Political Declaration calling for more cooperation in this area and proposed the execution of specific drug control projects in different areas.

In this same context, the Eighth Meeting of the Specialized Dialogue, held in Lima on May 31 and June 1, 2005, emphasized the need to look into the possibility of obtaining additional technical and financial cooperation to assist the Andean Community in its difficult drug control efforts, and to ensure that a coordinated approach is taken to the matter.

During the meetings held within the framework of the political dialogue, the Andean Community and the European Union studied, at the proposal of the Andean countries, the possibility of negotiating an Association Agreement to strengthen the political, economic, social and cultural ties between the two regions.

This step would be particularly important for giving Andean exports certain and stable access to the European market and for augmenting European investment flows to the subregion.

The important agreements reached in the Madrid (2002) and Guadalajara (2004) Summits of Heads of State and of Government of Latin America and the Caribbean and the European Union, within the framework of the strategic association between the two regions, have made it possible to launch the process aimed at the signing of an Association Agreement that will include a free trade agreement.

At the Second European Union – Latin America and the Caribbean Summit, held in Madrid in May 2002, the Heads of State of the Andean Community and of the European Union brought up the possibility of negotiating an Association Agreement that would include a Free Trade Area.

The Andean Community Heads of State and the Troika of the European Union agreed at the Third LAC – EU Summit, in Guadalajara on May 28 and 29, 2004, to launch a process that would lead to the signing of an association agreement including a free trade area. They accordingly decided, through a joint communiqué, that the process would begin with a joint assessment of Andean integration, to be followed by the negotiation of an association and free trade agreement.

At the Fourth Europe – Latin America and the Caribbean Summit in Vienna on May 12, 2006, the Andean Community and the European Union decided to start negotiating an Association Agreement during 2006 that would include a political dialogue, cooperation programs and a trade agreement.     

The “joint assessment” of Andean integration was successfully concluded on July 13, 2006 in Brussels, at a high-level meeting between the Andean Community and the European Union, thus opening the way for the prompt negotiation of an Association Agreement.