This publication, which is part of the EU-LAC Foundation's series of analyses, recommendations and strategic contributions to enrich the bi-regional dialogue and the IV CELAC-EU Summit, contains the main results of the EU-LAC Think Tanks Meeting "Assessing the value and potential of the bi-regional relationship between Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, a few months before the 2025 CELAC-EU Summit".
The EU-LAC Foundation, in cooperation with Carolina Foundation, the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS), the University of Copenhagen, the Jacques Delors Institute, the IE University and the Embassy of Colombia in Denmark, convened a two-day dialogue among representatives of Think Tanks in early September 2025 in the context of the Danish Presidency of the Council of the European Union in Copenhagen. The Meeting gathered around 20 researchers from Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), as well as from Europe (EU), alongside high-level authorities and representatives from international organisations, with the objective to generate analyses and proposals towards the preparation of the CELAC-EU Summit1 of States and Governments to be held in Santa Marta, Colombia, on 9 and 10 November 2025. Participants, all with recognised expertise in bi-regional relations, discussed key challenges and opportunities for EU–LAC cooperation.
Participants agreed that, in the current global context, where both the rules-based trade order and the broader rules-based international order face increasing pressure, the EU and CELAC should reaffirm their commitment to these frameworks. It is essential to support, and at the same time strengthen and transform international organisations in a moment in which we are witnessing moves to weaken them. The CELAC-EU Summit was called upon to restore confidence in international cooperation as a tool to address existential global challenges such as climate change. More than the previous Summit held in July 2023 in Brussels, the November 2025 Summit should deliver tangible outcomes and secure media visibility to demonstrate the relevance of the partnership. With politics regaining centrality in global affairs, the upcoming Summit will be a crucial opportunity to strengthen EU–LAC ties and reaffirm shared commitments to multilateralism.
The discussions of the Meeting, structured into four thematic sessions, identified three overarching strategic goals: 1) Changing the narrative; 2) Changing the relations; 3) Advancing concrete proposals.