The Relations between Mexico and Europe Today

Europe has an important and specific international weight in the political, economic and cultural arenas, which is largely due, among other reasons, to the process of European integration that has been carried out by the European Union (EU). According to the 1994-2000 National Development Plan (NDP), Europe is a priority for Mexico's strategy of diversification in foreign policy. This essay examines the state of relations between Mexico and the European continent, in particular the EU, on the bilateral and multilateral level. The first of this essay’s two sections focuses on the challenges posed for the ongoing process of European integration, and on the problems which derive from the enlargement of the EU. The second section analyzes the role assigned to Europe within the Mexican strategy of increasing diversification in terms of foreign relations. In this context, it examines the prevalent state of bilateral relations between Mexico and the European Nations, as well as those between our Nation and the EU, and the means which might serve to make them deeper.