- Go to main content [shortcut key S], by skipping site tools, language selector, navigation path and navigation menu
- Go to navigation menu, by skipping site tools, language selector and navigation path
- Go to navigation path, by skipping site tools and language selector
- Go to language selector, by skipping site tools
- Go to site tools
- Select a region
- Africa
- Andean Community
- Asia
- Candidate and potential candidate countries
- Caribbean
- Central America
- Central Asia
- Gulf countries, Iran, Iraq and Yemen
- Latin America
- Mediterranean & Middle East
- North America
- Other European Countries
- Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs)
- Pacific
- South Caucasus
- Western Balkans
- Western Europe
The EU - Central America negotiations
1st July 2009: EU-Central America Association Agreement talks postponed following the situation in Honduras.
After consulting the Central American governments and in agreement with the EU Member States, the European Commission has decided to postpone the 8th round of negotiations in view of an Association Agreement with Central America, due to take place in Brussels from 6 to 10 July 2009. The negotiations should resume as soon as possible".
1. The Association Agreement
An Association Agreement is the most advanced type of agreement that the EU can engage in with a country or a region in the world. It is proposed to partners with which the EU intends to deepen a strong relationship, based on mutual trust and on common values and principals. The future Agreement will give a legal framework to all aspects of EU’s relations with Central America. It is organized in three chapters, namely Political Dialogue, Cooperation and Trade.
The European Commission negotiates on behalf of the EU Member States a “region-to-region” Association Agreement with Central America. Central America is represented by one of its countries acting as a spokesperson on a rotating basis.
A first round of negotiations took place in San José, Costa Rica, in October 2007, where the Parties clarified their expectations and engaged in first exchanges of views on the three pillars of the future Agreement (Political Dialogue, Cooperation and Trade).
See press release: Concluye primera ronda Centroamérica - Union Europea 
[89 KB]
In February 2008, the negotiators met for a second round in Brussels and engaged in text based negotiations.
See press release:EU-Central America conclude successful 2nd Round of negotiations for bi-regional Association Agreement [459 KB] 
.
These were pursued during a third round in San Salvador in April 2008 when the first trade related offers were also discussed.
See press release:http://www.rree.gob.sv/sitio/sitiowebrree.nsf/pages/concluyeronda
A fourth round of negotiations between EU and CA, that took place in Brussels from 14 – 18 July 2008, gave further impetus to Association Agreement talks.
See press release [452 KB] .
A fifth round of negotiations was convened in Guatemala from 6 to 10 October 2008.
A sixth round of negotiations took place from 26 to 30 January 2009 in Brussels.
A seventh round of negotiations was scheduled from 30 March to 3 April 2009 in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. It was temporarily suspended on 1st April 2009. See press release
.
Opening session of the 7th round of EU-Central America negotiation, in the presence of M. José Manuel Zelaya Rosales, President of the Republic of Honduras (in the middle), 30 March 2009, Tegucigalpa.
Copyright: EC
For more information on the negotiations process, see also Costa Rica government web site.
The negotiations resumed with an informal meeting of all Central American countries and the EU Commission at Brussels on 23 and 24 April 2009.
See joint press release EN ES .
1st July 2009:EU-Central America: Association Agreement talks postponed following the situation in Honduras. After consulting the Central American governments and in agreement with the EU Member States, the European Commission has decided to postpone the 8th round of negotiations in view of an Association Agreement with Central America, due to take place in Brussels from 6 to 10 July 2009. The negotiations should resume as soon as possible".
2. Dialogue with civil society
The European Commission attaches great importance to the dialogue with civil society and seeks to develop a confident working relationship between all interested stakeholders. It therefore organizes meetings and maintains regular contacts with civil society representatives. It actively participated in March 2007 to the Second UE-CA Civil Society Forum held in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.
Since then, the Commission organized regular meetings in Brussels and in Central America, to keep civil society organizations informed of the negotiations’ progress. These encounters usually take place either before, during or after each round of negotiations and allow open exchanges of views.
To attend these meetings, please register here:http://trade.ec.europa.eu/civilsoc/index.cfm
