Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, arrives to the EU-CELAC Summit and answers questions from journalists in Brussels. The heads of state and government of the EU and CELAC Member States attend the summit, which will be co-chaired by the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Ralph Gonsalves, in his role as CELAC pro tempore president. The summit is an opportunity to further strengthen the EU-CELAC partnership, discuss working together to achieve fair green and digital transitions, and demonstrate a shared commitment to upholding the rules-based international order. Arrival and doorstep by Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament. The transcription is the result of an automatic process. Please, check against delivery.

Brussels

statement

METSOLA, Roberta (EPP, MT, EP President)

EU - Latin America (T)

president's agenda

Doorstep by Roberta METSOLA, EP President, at the EU-CELAC summit

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, So first of all, good afternoon. I'm very happy to be here. First summit in eight years, very high expectations on behalf of the European Parliament. We will engage in debates, we will look for constructive improvement on trade deals with Chile, with Mexico, with Mercosur. We will look for sustainability and environmental concerns to also be covered.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, And any progress on trade agreements because the European Parliament attaches a lot of importance to our dialogue with our Latin American and Caribbean partners. We have taken the decision to open an antenna office in the region in order to increase what is already a very active parliamentary democracy debate and interparliamentary exchanges.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, Last thing we would also look to make sure that strong language comes out on universal condemnation of what is happening in Ukraine. For us, that it is important that all our international partners say that. First of all, no discussions about Ukraine without Ukraine and peace in Ukraine must come with territorial integrity, with justice and integrity. Thank you very much.

Q8A, Question regarding the expectations for this EU-CELAC summit.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, Well, first of all, there's a very high expectations of this summit. We should not have waited eight years to have a summit like this. And also not only during the Spanish presidency. That's why we very much welcome this this summit today. And we are very much happy that it's happening at this time. And we would hope that we would very much look forward to the next one in 2025.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, On text, we would like to have a stronger conclusions as possible. We would like to have a stronger progress as possible on trade agreements. For us, trade agreements are a win win. This is not about the subsidies or protectionism. This is about making sure that agreements are a win win for all.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, And the European Parliament also pushes to make sure that we have as much protection of human rights, environmental and sustainability concerns. Lastly, we would look for as much as convergence as possible on the on the universal condemnation of what's happening in Ukraine.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, And that the European Parliament will be opening an antenna office in the Latin American region because we see how important that is in order for us to continue to engage from a diplomatic and Parliament perspective. Thank you.

Q8A, Question regarding the relationship of EU with Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, All our positions of the European Parliament are clear and I will be pushing for those.

Q8A, Question regarding the Ukraine initiative and Russia's response to it.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, Well, for us it is extremely worrying. What we have seen with the ongoing provision by Ukraine, notwithstanding the fact that it is under daily bombing attacks, is the possibility for Ukrainian grain to continue to feed the world.

paragraph-13 The decision by today means that could possibly no longer take place and our concern would be on the spill-over effect on the impact of such a decision, which is so regrettable, so worrying, and one that we would hope we would continue to find a resolution for because countries are dependent on Ukrainian grain and will continue to do so. Thank you very much.