Apresentação

The EU-Mexico Joint Parliamentary Committee: one of the most sophisticated forms of international parliamentary cooperation

Mexico is between one of the handful countries, which have reached the highest level of parliamentary cooperation with the EU.

The EU-Mexico JPC is legally based on a joint statement on interparliamentary dialogue agreed at the time of concluding the EU-Mexico Economic Partnership, Political Coordination and Cooperation Agreement (EU-Mexico Global Agreement) in 1997, which underlines the advisability of institutionalising a political dialogue at parliamentary level through contacts between the European Parliament and the Mexican Congress (Chamber of Deputies and Senate).

As this recommendation fell one-step short of establishing a formal, joint structure that would link MEPs and members of the Mexican Congress, the two legislatures took the initiative to create such a structure themselves.

Cooperation with other parliamentary bodies and institutional interlocutors such as committees, the European Parliament's Democracy and Election Group (DEG), and multilateral assemblies has been quite regular and fruitful. The European External Action Service (EEAS) Headquarters in Brussels and the EU Delegation in Mexico support and help organise the visits of the European Parliament to Mexico.

A strong partnership

The EU-Mexico Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) attaches peculiar importance to the parliamentary dimension of the EU-Mexico bilateral relations and closely follows all aspect of the strong EU-Mexico partnership.

Mexico is the world's 15th-largest economy by gross domestic product and is a member of the G20 Group. It is a strategic partner of the EU and promotes values similar to those of the EU, including open and fair trade based on international standards. Mexico was the first Latin American country to sign an Economic Partnership, Political Coordination and Cooperation Agreement with the EU (the EU-Mexico Global Agreement, signed in 1997 and in force since 2000).

With its three pillars (political dialogue, trade and cooperation), this agreement has had a very positive impact on bilateral relations. Since 2008, Mexico has been one of the EU's 10 strategic partners. EU-Mexico relations have developed in a large number of policy areas, especially since the entry into force of the EU-Mexico Global Agreement in 2000, which created a framework for close cooperation.

The 2008 Strategic Partnership reinforced the Agreement by introducing new key policy areas:

• enhanced cooperation at multilateral level;
• new sectoral dialogues (security, human rights, political dialogue);
• a joint executive plan setting out a long list of areas of action (international peace and justice, transnational organised crime, human security, cooperation, macroeconomic issues, sustainable development, police cooperation, education, culture, youth, science and technology, public health, nuclear safety, etc.).

As a result, EU-Mexico relations are characterised by a wide variety of shared values and excellent cooperation in several areas of common interest. The EU-Mexico Global Agreement envisages a series of institutionalised meetings (bi-annual summits, annual joint councils and annual joint committees) which have boosted and deepened the dialogue and cooperation on bilateral, regional and multilateral issues.

Relations between the EU and Mexico have also developed through sectoral and political dialogues under its Strategic Partnership in force since 2009. The aim of these meetings is to build closer relations in foreign policy and identify areas of cooperation and opportunities for combined efforts on matters of common interest.