Roundtable: Rethinking Relations between Latin America and Europe in the Run-up to the EU–CELAC Summit

On September 16th, 2025, a roundtable was held in Barcelona at the headquarters of Casa Amèrica Catalunya to debate the future of European Union–Latin America and the Caribbean (EU–LAC) relations in the run-up to the upcoming EU–CELAC Summit of 2025. The event, jointly organized by the Institut Barcelona d’Estudis Internacionals (IBEI), the University of Barcelona, and Casa Amèrica Catalunya, addressed the main political, social, and economic challenges facing these relations, while also exploring opportunities for deeper interregional cooperation.

The roundtable brought together renowned experts on Latin America–Europe relations: Andrea Costafreda (Government of Catalonia), Kevin Parthenay (University of Tours), Andrea Ribeiro Hoffmann (PUC Rio de Janeiro), José Antonio Sanahuja (Complutense University of Madrid), and Claudia Zilla (Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, Berlin). The session was moderated by Jacint Jordana, president of IBEI and professor at Pompeu Fabra University.

Participants analyzed the factors shaping the summit from different perspectives - historical, economic, political, and social - and pointed to possible ways forward toward closer interregional cooperation in a global context marked by growing complexity and geopolitical fragmentation. The roundtable generated an intense dialogue, both among the speakers and with the attending audience, allowing for a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities ahead of the summit.

This event was part of a recent collaboration agreement between IBEI and Casa Amèrica Catalunya, which foresees the joint organization of activities for reflection and debate on Latin America–Europe relations over the next three years. In this context, IBEI, coordinator of two EU-funded university networks linking Europe and Latin America (LAC–EU and EULAS), focused on research, doctoral training, and knowledge transfer—reinforces through this initiative its aim of disseminating and promoting knowledge and reflection on these issues beyond academia, bringing them closer to wider and more diverse audiences.

🎥 The entire roundtable was recorded and can be viewed on Casa Amèrica Catalunya’s YouTube channel.