EU REFORM WILL AFFECT LATIN AMERICA AS WELL

The current state of the European Union since approval of the Reform Treaty could affect integration processes in the rest of the world and especially in the Americas, writes Joaquin Roy, \'\'Jean Monnet\'\' professor and Director of the European Union Centre of the University of Miami. In this analysis, the author writes that once again the European constitutional impasse has revived Latin America\'s sense that the true reason underlying the \'\'no\'\' vote by France and Holland in 2005 was the fear of a \'\'loss\'\' of sovereignty. This fear is deeply rooted in the Latin American imagination and has been identified as a threat to nationalist centralism. The need to focus on correcting the negative impact of the French and Dutch \'\'no\'\' and the subsequent compromise of the Reform Treaty suggest that the EU\'s priorities in the future will be directed more inward than outward, and towards the strengthening of its natural limits. Those alarmed by the lack of interest in distant areas of the planet argue, therefore, that Latin America is a sure candidate for future cuts in Official Development Assistance, though current assistance levels have been approved and are locked in through 2014.