As you read this, the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly meeting in Cuenca, Ecuador, is heading towards its final set of meetings. I am participating in it as a member of a standing European Parliament committee, the packed agenda essentially being made up of a series of meetings embracing political, economic and social affairs. However, I have also been eager to make my own assessment of a country that so recently made the international headlines.
The news, you may remember, broke out at the end of September. The President of Ecuador, Rafael Correa, had found himself taking refuge in a hospital surrounded by hundreds of protesting police officers and other members of the security forces.
It appeared to be a coup d’etat. International condemnation, including from the European Union and the United States, quickly followed. The mutiny lasted some 12 hours. Once President Correa was released, he accused the officers involved of treason and also declared the officers may have been misled by the opposition.
The incident was both surprising and not. Ecuador has up till recently been one of the most unstable Latin American countries. It had no less than eight Presidents between 1997 and 2007. However, once President Correa took office in 2007, a period of stability followed.
The public institutions functioned calmly. There were no major political tremors, even though the President’s own popularity was itself volatile.
A left-wing economist, he had resigned as minister under the previous President when he concluded he could not pursue his economic programme. This earned him popular approval and he won the 2006 election. At its peak, his rating was well over 70 per cent. It says something about his general popularity that when he reached a record low he was still in the 51 per cent bracket.
From this perspective, the attempted coup was surprising and needed explanation. Some people, including within Ecuador, suggested the incidents were never planned as a coup. It was simply a face-to-face confrontation with the President over working conditions that got out of hand, particularly because of President Correa’s confrontational style.
Even so, however, the fact that security forces could allow themselves this kind of behaviour in relation to their head of state still betrays an essential instability in the country that is of concern.
Europe needs Latin America to be stable and prosperous. In the case of Ecuador, we are dealing with one of the poorest and smallest countries of the continent but with the fifth largest Latin American exporter of oil. That role may yet increase if investments in infrastructure keep going ahead till completion.
Under President Correa, the country is also beginning to take a more prominent part as a member of a continent that is ready to offer provocative ideas in a globalised world. President Correa is a friend of Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Bolivia’s Evo Morales among others. It was President Correa’s proposal, a few years ago, to suggest an international tax on oil consumption with the proceeds going towards investment in renewable energy.
Any tax proposal is bound to be controversial, at best. Here the proposal was interesting because it was tied to preserving the Amazon forest, part of which covers Ecuadorian soil. The suggestion of international responsibility for a rainforest indicates how environmental governance and cooperation may be pushed in innovative ways.
Whether the proposal is acceptable at all, or at this time of economic crisis, is a different matter. However, it does go to show what Latin American social democracy may have to offer all social democrat parties.
There was a time when political developments in Latin America could easily be seen as lagging behind and following in the footsteps of the European counterparts among the major political parties. Not any more. They are taking the initiative to address the challenges of globalisation in bold, interesting ways.
No wonder, therefore, that the Parliamentary Assembly’s agenda also found time to schedule meetings between each major European political family (conservative, Christian democrat, social democrat, liberal, etc.) and their Latin American counterparts.
Against this background, it is a worrying suggestion that the attempted coup may have been more than a late summer explosion of tempers. If Ecuador goes back to its old unstable ways, the progressive momentum durable, sustainable politics and economy would be lost. Other countries might also be undermined and regional integration would suffer.
Of late, the President’s reputation has continued to suffer because of a sluggish economy and accusations of corruption made towards his brother. In response, Ecuador’s leader has not cut back on social spending and is running up the deficit. It is a decision that could in the long run increase the regional clout of the country’s debtors, including Russia.
It is such developments that led the European Parliament, four years ago, to participate in the setting up of the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly. Such initiatives help building a proper response to globalisation and the reduction of poverty.
Dr Attard Montalto is a Labour member of the European Parliament.