Political relations between the EU and Nicaragua have been shaped by the San José Dialogue, launched in 1984. The EU also supported the Esquipulas Process aimed to restore peace to the region and Nicaragua by means of a negotiated solution to the armed conflicts prevailing at that time.

Nicaragua is a signatory to the 1993 EU-Central America Framework Cooperation Agreement and to the Political Dialogue and Cooperation Agreement [105 KB]  signed in 2003. The country is currently a beneficiary of the EU Generalised System of Preferences (GSP+).

Nicaragua is also part to the EU-Central America Association Agreement signed on 29^th June 2012 in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. The European Parliament gave its consent on 11 December 2012. The Association Agreement (not yet into force) is an ambitious and complex agreement settled upon three pillars: political dialogue, cooperation and a free trade area.

The Political Dialogue mechanisms foreseen in the agreement will allow maintaining a permanent platform to exchange views between the EU and Central America on any issue, from human rights, good governance, rule of law, democracy to protection of the environment. The Trade part establishing a free trade area between the EU and Central America will boost trade and investment flows between both regions, taking into account their developmental differences. Finally the Cooperation part takes into account the different levels of development. Since its inception, this region-to-region association has been accompanied by a wide programme of cooperation (see Regional Strategy Paper 2007-2013 and Mid-Term Review of the Regional Strategy Paper 2007-2013 for Central America ).

The EU is main donor of official development aid for Nicaragua. The priorities of the current cooperation can be found in the Country Strategy Paper 2007-2013 [2 MB] for Nicaragua.

Mid-Term Review of the Country Strategy Paper 2007-2013 for Nicaragua  and the National Indicative Programme for 2011-2013 for Nicaragua .

Finally the EU supports a number of initiatives of the civil society in several fields, particularly human rights, local development and environment.