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Europe and the reshaped global order / Policy Brief

Brazil's view on Europe

30/03/2010 By Miriam Gomes Saraiva

For almost two decades, Brazilian foreign policy has simultaneously sought increased international projection and aimed to build its regional leadership in South America. There has also been a significant effort to use foreign policy to support national development. Within the framework of these objectives, Brazil signed a Strategic Partnership agreement with the EU in 2007. However, Brazilian diplomacy’s perceptions of the EU are not always clear.

Europe has three different channels of relations with Brazil: EU-Brazil; bilateral relations between Brazil and one or more member states; and EU-Mercosur. For Brazilian diplomacy some EU member states – especially Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Portugal – are considered important partners, while the EU as a whole is identified as a player that systematically creates trade complications for Brazil.

The type of leadership sought by Brazilian diplomacy is individual-based, and the country’s role as a global player is strongly upheld in the ideas of autonomy and universality. In light of this, this policy brief by Miriam Gomes Saraiva analyses Brazil’s complex vision of the EU; its perceptions and expectations, and considers the possible future of relations between the two powers.

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Keywords

Brazil European Union Mercosur Multilateralism

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Bio author: Miriam Gomes Saraiva

Postgaduate International Relations programme. Rio de Janeiro State University, Brazil.