From April 13 to 15, 2026, the University of Lisbon (ULisboa) hosted the XI Jean Monnet Network BRIDGE Watch Seminar, dedicated to the theme “Fair and Free Trade for Inclusive Economies.”
Bringing together a diverse community of academics, policymakers, and practitioners, the seminar offered three days of in-depth discussions, collaborative exchanges, and forward-looking debates. Coordinated by Nuno Cunha Rodrigues (ULisboa), Aline Beltrame de Moura (UFSC), and Rute Gil Saraiva (ULisboa), the hybrid-format event gathered over 190 participants and 57 speakers from 14 countries, reinforcing the network’s role as a key forum for EU–Latin America dialogue.
The Opening Session, held at ULisboa’s Faculty of Law, gathered distinguished representatives, including Eduardo Vera Cruz (Director of the Faculty of Law, ULisboa), Eduardo Paz Ferreira (Retired Professor, ULisboa), and Ana Paula Dourado (Professor at ULisboa and Director of CIDEEFF – Center for Research in European, Economic, Financial and Tax Law), alongside the BRIDGE Watch coordinators.
The initial interventions were delivered by Inês Lopes Domingos (Secretary of State for European Affairs, Portugal), Raimundo Carreiro Silva (Brazilian Ambassador to Portugal), and Jorge Fernández (President of the Permanent Review Tribunal of MERCOSUR).
The first day also featured the seminar “Fair and Free Trade for Inclusive Economies,” with interventions from Teresa Moreira (Ministry of Economy of Portugal; Former Head of the Competition and Consumer Policy Branch at UNCTAD, United Nations), Rui Guerra da Fonseca (Justice of the Constitutional Court of Portugal), Luís Loureiro Amorim (Deputy Head of Mission at the European Commission Representation in Portugal), Ignacio Herrera Anchutegui (University of Bergen, Norway), and Santiago Deluca (University del Salvador; former Secretary of the Permanent Review Tribunal of Mercosur).
On April 14, participants attended the presentation of the BRIDGE Watch Reports “Human Rights in Latin America” and “Digital Transformation in Latin America,” available at: https://eurolatinstudies.com/en/bridge-watch-report/. In the evening, the workshop ‘Fair and Free Trade for Inclusive Economies’ brought together 17 paper presentations from authors across different countries.
The final day, April 15, featured the book launch “Las mujeres y la institucionalidad del Mercosur” by Liliana Bertoni (UBA, Argentina), followed by four roundtable panels addressing central themes in international trade.
This seminar marked the fifth of six events planned under the three-year BRIDGE Watch Project, coordinated by ULisboa and UFSC in collaboration with a consortium of 14 universities across Europe and Latin America. The project aims to strengthen academic cooperation and deepen mutual understanding between the two regions.
The Organizing Committee warmly thanks all participants, speakers, moderators, and partners for their invaluable contributions to the success of this seminar. The next Bridge Watch event will take place in October 2026 in Uruguay.