New ties

Some Europeans still don’t understand that links with Brazil are very important for the EU, says Joel Hasse Ferreira

The EU-Brazil summit during the Portuguese presidency had an important influence in the evolution of our relationship with Brazil. Most people inside the EU, even some leaders, often look at Latin America as a whole, but this is not adequate. The differences among the various countries are very relevant. Most countries speak Spanish while the largest one, Brazil, speaks Portuguese. There are also ethnic differences between countries with quite a lot of African descendants and countries with quite a lot of native Indian descendants.

But, in South and Central America, there are also many differences concerning the geopolitical and economic integration of each country. Mexico is integrated into Nafta, the North American free trade association, with Canada and the US. On the other hand, Brazil leads the Mercosur or Mercosul, which represents the southern market.

The US administration has put a lot of pressure on the creation of ALCA, an American free trade area, integrating all the territories from Alaska to Patagonia in the same economic space. This space would reinforce the economic and political links between all Latin American countries, the US and Canada, diminishing the autonomy of Brazil and the other members of Mercosur/Mercosul. It would increase trade all over the American continent and probably give a push to economic growth in many of the Latin American countries. But it would possibly increase the regional disparities in most countries. The Brazilians have studied the impact of the creation of ALCA and know which regions and industries could benefit and which could lose.

But the Brazilians also want to reinforce links with Europe and Africa, in which they have complementary interests. In Africa, Brazil wants to invest and give training, mainly in Portuguese-speaking countries like Angola and Mozambique. In Europe, they want to reinforce trade relationships, to get more investment and to get more know-how. That is partially the reason why Brazilian president Lula da Silva invited the former Portuguese prime minister António Guterres, to be his adviser in this field, before Guterres was  appointed as UN high commissioner for refugees.

Social cohesion in Brazil is heading in the right direction. The campaign against hunger went as well as possible. And for the first time in my life, last December, I crossed peacefully the biggest slum in South America, the ‘favela da Rocinha’, located in Rio de Janeiro. The Brazilian experience in energy is also very interesting. On the one hand, they are discovering more oil reserves, but they are also developing sugar cane for producing carburant for vehicles.

Speaking about world economies, Brazil is now one of the new emerging powers, with China, Russia and India. Brazil is fighting for a permanent seat on the UN security council. Last December in Brazil, I attended an economic congress in Rio de Janeiro, where I spoke also about the relationship between the EU and Brazil. The mayor of Rio was very interested in the development of the relationship with Europe, as was the governor of the state, who could be the next president of Brazil.