In this interview, Manuel Marín, Vice-President of the European Commission from 1993 to 1999, discusses the efforts made to take into account the specific nature of Latin America in the European Union’s foreign policy. He also mentions Spain’s role as mediator in driving forward policies for cooperation with Latin America and the various plans for regional integration, in particular through Mercosur, the Organisation of American States (OAS) and the doctrine of ‘open regionalism’.