“Security” is one main concern of Latin-America’s citizens. For them, it is not only a question of carefreeness with regard to general risks, but a question of protection against violence and crime. Compared to international standards, most Latin-American countries show a relativly elevated degree of intra-state violence. In Brazil, for example, more than 40.000 people fall victim of criminal violence each year.

This extent of intra-state violence seems to contrast with another phenomenom: In an international comparison, Latin-America is considered the region with less inter-state conflicts and the one, who in proportion to its gross national product (GNP), spends less in military expenses. The subcontinent lacks any major territorial dispute, as well as religious or ethnical conflicts. Besides, Latin-America is the only region in the world where all countries pronounce openly against the aquisition and posession of nuclear weapons. Therefore, central topics on the agenda of international security, as the fight against terrorism or the issue of non-proliferation, don’t have an immediate impact on Latin-American countries and thus, within the continent, the interest and comprehension of these topics remain rather limited. Accordingly, the disposition of politicians, media and a broader part of civil society to support the fight against terrorism and the constriction of the proliferation of nuclear weapons, is situated on a low level. This tendency is strengthened by the widely spread critique against the Bush-Administration and the presence of the armed forces of the USA in Colombia.

On the other hand, the countries of Latin-America by no means have a cohesive position with regard to matters of international security. They neither have a common view of security problems nor does there exist a coordinated collective strategy in international forums. These countries are more or less „free riders“ with regard to questions on security. Many times, the proximity to the United States is not seen as protection against threat; on the contrary many countries feel threatened by the hegemon.

Independent of this, in recent years Latin-America has become a hotspot of new forms of security threats, particularly in terms of illegal and criminal trafficking in human beings, drugs and arms, especially small arms. Moreover, the conflict between Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela in April 2008 showed that each of these points mentioned has the potential to provoke a regional inter-state security problem. This conflict revealed the necessity of a new or amplified security arquitecture for Latin-America.

In the face of the importance of topics of international security the Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation via the Studies Centre in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, promotes and organizes a dialogue and experiences about topics of regional and international security policy. The yearly Conference of Forte Copacabana has become a central forum for this dialogue and exchange of experiences between South America and Europe. Politicians, representatives of governments, the militarry, academics and representatives of national and international organisations use the conference as a platform for the discussion of current relevent topics of security policy.

In addition to the yearly conference in Rio de Janeiro, June 10th to 12th 2008, the Europe-Office of the Konrad-Adenauer-Fundation in cooperation with the Studies Centre has organised a European conference on matters of international security policy. The conference aimed at the discussion of opinions and experiences on different topics of a commom agenda of questions of security policy. On the one hand, the representatives from South America were able to introduce the representatives of the European Union and NATO to new developments of the continent in the area of security policy On the other hand, the Europeans had the chance to expose central topics of the European and international security agenda from a EU’s or NATO’s point of view. Furthermore, the conference was an opportunity to visit the European Council, The European Commission and the NATO. Thus, the conference made an important contribution to the intensification of the still fragile dialogue between Europe and South America in the area of security policy.

Representatives from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela participated in the conference.

The first panel discussed the South American security system after the crisis between Ecuador, Columbia and Venezuela and the possible creation of a South American Council of defense, which was proposed by Brazil. During the discussion it became apparent that there was not at all a unanimous agreement to this project in South America because mainly the small states of the region fear and reject a hegemonic position of Brazil. On the other hand it has been emphasized that Brazil should accept to bear the political and financial costs which emerge from his regional leadership and had to get even more involved in balancing conflicting interests in order to guarantee regional stability.

The topic of the second panel was devoted to the ability of the European Union to guarantee security and stability within the European continent. Representatives of the European Commission, the European Council and the European Parliament discussed the questions concerning the prevention, the handling and the resolution of international conflicts. EU enlargement policy was presented as a central instrument for EU conflict prevention. Yet the EU representatives admitted that this instrument was limited in its conflict resolution capacity. Therefore they advised the necessity to obtain a larger coherence in the political goals of the union (rule of law, democracy, human rights) in relation to third countries. Another topic of this panel was the Presidency of the European Council in regard to the revision of the European Security Strategy expected in 2009.

The third panel dealt with common security problems of EU and South America. Drug trafficking and the impact of illegal migration on public security were the most important issues of this discussion. The panelists concluded that drug trafficking must not be treated as a problem of only one or a small number of states. The interdependencies among the South American states as well as the interdependencies between South America and Europe have been accented. Therefore it’s indispensable to treat these problems in collaboration and with coherent measures, for instance by expanding the system of surveillance in the Amazon region (SIVAM- Sistema de Vigilância da Amazônia), by improving the exchange of information with states beyond this region and the cooperation between the federal polices of different states etc.

Concerning illegal migration, the importance of immigrant’s money transfer for many of their home countries in Latin America and the Caribbean were emphasized. The representatives of South American states pointed out that the fight against terrorism must not serve as an excuse for the negligence of human rights or the expulsion of immigrants. The panel recommended to strengthen the third pillar of the EU (Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters) in this area and to develop new mechanisms helping to cope with this new type of problems.

The forth panel was devoted to visions shared by South America and the EU concerning global security questions. The panelists explored the topics of the perception of threat in both regions, the possibility to intensify the dialogue and to improve the efficiency of the cooperation between South America and the EU. They mentioned the new role and increased importance of Latin America on the international stage which goes along with an increasing diversification and the creation of new dialogues and voting mechanisms in South America’s relationship with other world regions such as China, India, the Arab League and Russia.

This situation makes it more difficult for the EU to find durable Latin American allies or to intensify existing relationships. Yet, there is a high potential for reinforcing cooperation, above all in the domain of combating illegal drug trafficking, illegal migration and small arms proliferation, in the domain of energy security and in contact with failed states (in this context the South American support concerning the UN peacekeeping mission in Haiti – MINUSTAH was strongly appreciated).

The discussion during the conference showed that the „New Threats” are becoming more and more important on the security agenda of both regions while the traditional threats continues to be an important issue.

Drug trafficking and illegal migration are the most important topics in the common agenda of the EU and South America in the range of security policy. The protagonism of South American countries in the peace mission in Haiti and the peaceful resolution of the conflict between Ecuador, Columbia and Venezuela represent a chance for an intensified cooperation in security policy. Establishing an institutionalized dialogue between South America and the EU would be an important step towards the agreement to create concrete political cooperation platforms which respond to the necessities of a collaboration between the two regions in the domain of security and defense policy.