The leaders or representatives of the 60 countries taking part in the third summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (Celac) and the European Union (EU), this Monday (17) and Tuesday (18) in Brussels, “are close” to concluding negotiations on a joint declaration to be published at the end of the meeting, according to Brazilian diplomatic sources. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva landed in Brussels on Sunday afternoon and had no appointments scheduled on his agenda.
Adriana Moysés, RFI special envoy to Brussels
The war in Ukraine, a sensitive issue for Europeans, is likely to be mentioned in the summit’s closing document. However, the terms of the text are being hard negotiated by Latin American delegations, including Brazil, which are demanding that the Europeans take into account the position of countries in the region that have not yet condemned the Russian invasion, including Venezuela and Nicaragua, for example.
The Venezuelan and Nicaraguan leaders did not come to the meeting at EU headquarters, but are represented in the discussions. Other notable absentees are Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and Peru’s leader, Dina Boluarte, who is prevented from leaving the country by a measure of the Peruvian Congress. In Obrador’s absence, President Lula is naturally leading Latin American interests.
Brazil voted in favor of UN resolutions condemning Moscow for flouting the rules of international law by invading Ukraine, but believes that the different views of the Celac countries must be respected by the Europeans. With the support of Brazil, the Latin Americans are working to ensure that the final declaration emphasizes efforts to seek dialogue between the parties to resolve the conflict, without isolating Russia.
Mercosur-EU agreement
The Mercosur-European Union free trade agreement is not among the topics under discussion at the summit, but it weighs on the meeting and will be addressed at President Lula’s bilateral meetings in Brussels.
Spain, currently holding the bloc’s rotating presidency, is working to implement the agreement. When President Lula hesitated to make the trip, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez phoned the Brazilian and said his presence in the Belgian capital was crucial.
The first official meeting on Lula’s agenda is a bilateral meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Monday morning. On that occasion, Lula will reiterate that he finds it “unacceptable” that the Europeans threaten Mercosur with sanctions if Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay do not comply with additional environmental requirements, related to deforestation and provisions of the Paris climate agreement.
In March, the European Commission presented the new conditions in a side letter to the South American bloc, which Brasilia described as “colonialist”. In a harsh tone, the Brazilian leader will tell Von Der Leyen, as he has done in recent weeks, that he does not accept “threats from strategic partners”.
At the end of last week, Brazil sent its Mercosur neighbors the draft response it has prepared for the Commission. Now, the government is waiting for comments and contributions from Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay to finalize the text and send it to the European Executive. According to sources involved in the negotiations, a meeting between the parties should be possible in August.
Brazil also wants to modify the agreement concluded in 2019, after 20 years of negotiations, by introducing protection mechanisms for Brazilian companies in so-called government procurement, so that industry and the service sector do not have their development compromised by competition from groups in Europe.
Economic, environmental and digital transitions in focus
The last EU-CELAC summit took place in 2015. Since then, the EU has been plunged into internal problems, such as managing the severe migration wave of 2015-2016, Brexit, the coronavirus pandemic and, finally, the war in Ukraine, which has also generated a strong energy crisis on the continent. Eight years on, the global geopolitical landscape has changed and the European bloc is seeking rapprochement with a region of the world with which it has an affinity and a historical relationship.
The 27 need to reduce their dependencies, while on the Latin American side, Europe can be a strategic partner for the industrialization of raw materials, adding value to exports and generating jobs. The region’s leading countries want investment with technology transfer. The defense of multilateralism also brings them closer.
This rapprochement, however, still encounters barriers. The EU hopes to give the relationship a permanent structure, but ECLAC does not have the level of institutionalization of the European bloc, so the idea will still require negotiations. One consensus proposal is that the leaders of the two communities will meet every two years.
The debates at the summit are centered on some of the main current challenges, such as climate change; trade and sustainable development; social inclusion; post-pandemic economic recovery; energy and digital transition; migration; reform of the international financial architecture and the fight against organized crime. Different cooperation initiatives and projects will be addressed.
To entice allies, the EU offers the “Global Gateway”, an investment plan estimated at €10 billion that can finance, among other needs, renewable energies, green hydrogen and critical minerals, essential for the energy transition. However, this amount is considered by some experts to be overestimated because it incorporates private sector resources and is lower than what European funding agencies are dedicating to the African continent.
President Lula will hold a series of bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the Celac-EU summit. After the meeting with Ursula von der Leyen, he will participate in the opening of the European Union – Latin America and the Caribbean business table, at the invitation of the President of the European Commission. The event will bring together political leaders, representatives of development banks (IDB and European) and the private sector to explore opportunities in the region.
Before the opening session of the third Celac-EU Summit, scheduled for 16:00 local time (11:00 in Brasilia), the Brazilian president has a bilateral with the Prime Minister of Barbados, Mia Mottley. Later, Lula will be received by the King of the Belgians, Philip, and the Belgian Prime Minister, Alexander de Croo, at the Royal Palace in Brussels. He will also hold talks with the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola.
In the evening, the president and first lady Rosângela da Silva, will attend a reception with a musical performance and a gala dinner hosted by the Europeans for Latin American leaders.
EU investment in Brazil grows
Despite an eight-year hiatus without bi-regional meetings, Brazil and the EU have never broken off trade and diplomatic exchanges in that period. The 27-nation bloc is Brazil’s second largest trading partner, behind China. In 2022, the trade flow reached US$ 95 billion, 27% higher than in the same period in 2021. Brazil exported US$ 51 billion to the EU, an increase of 39% compared to the previous period, and imported US$ 44 billion (up 16%), resulting in a surplus of around US$ 7 billion.
Brazil also stands out as the largest destination of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) from EU countries in Latin America, with almost half of the stock located in the region (€353 billion). Mexico comes in second place. European investments in Brazil are concentrated in the manufacturing, digital infrastructure and services sectors.