Strasbourg, 8 October 2025
Member of the European Parliament and member of the committee on foreign affairs (AFET) of the European Parliament, Željana Zovko, made a speech today at the plenary session in Strasbourg about the report on the EU political strategy on Latin America.
In her address, Zovko stressed that Latin American partners are our natural allies.
She highlighted that, despite these close ties, the EU’s presence has significantly declined in recent decades, giving way to Chinese and Russian influence and enabling them to create economic dependencies that influence foreign policy directions of Latin American countries.
Zovko underlined that it is high time to re-engage with the region, on areas ranging from trade to security and supply of critical raw materials.
In this regard, she stressed that the EU-Mercosur Partnership Agreement is key as it will participate in the EU’s strategy to conclude new mutually beneficial agreements with like-minded partners and will contribute to counterbalance the influence of the EU’s competitors in the region.
Likewise, she emphasized that the EU must increase its coordination with Latin America to fight against criminal organizations that constitute a threat to the European security, especially regarding the consequences of narcotrafficking.
Moreover, Zovko mentioned the situation in Nicaragua, stating that “as a guardian of freedom of religion, the EU must protect religious communities worldwide, and cannot therefore remain silent in the face of the persecution of human rights defenders and members of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua”.
“It is high time to stop the communist persecution that we have seen in Eastern Europe during decades and that is now oppressing people in Latin America”, she concluded.