Brussels, 03/10/2011 (Agence Europe) - The sovereign debt crisis in the eurozone was a major topic of the fifth EU-Brazil summit, which was attended by Dilma Rousseff, from Monday evening, for the first time in her capacity as president of the Brazilian republic. The meeting provided an opportunity for the presidents of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, and of the European Commission, José Manuel Durão Barroso, to explain to their strategic partner the actions undertaken in Europe to cleanse public finances, assist countries in difficulty and regain the confidence of the financial markets. As the EU invests more in Brazil than the other major emerging countries (Russia, India and China) put together, the Europeans and Brazilians will analyse the possible impact of this crisis on their bilateral relations. According to Rousseff, the richest countries have a particular responsibility to find a solution to a crisis born on their own territory and they should therefore not expect any initiative whereby Brazil would commit to bail out a struggling eurozone, the Commission was warned. A few weeks ahead of the G20 summit (3-4 November in Cannes), the two partners will also discuss the way in which the major global economies should act to kick-start growth and reform the international monetary system. Taxing financial transactions could, for example, be a joint idea.
Mercosur. Both sides will take stock of negotiations for a bilateral free-trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay), on the eve of a further session of talks, to be held in Montevideo from 7 to 11 November. Progress has been made in recent months, but the exchange of offers over market access is still outstanding.
The partners will analyse the situation in Libya and in the countries shaken up by the Arab Spring. They will discuss ways of stepping up their cooperation over these issues, particularly at the United Nations, where Brasilia is a temporary member of the Security Council. They will discuss their position ahead of future UN climate change conferences (Durban at the end of 2011, Rio + in 2012).
The EU and Brazil have set in place some 20 sectorial dialogues as part of the joint action plan, which will also be updated for the period 2012-2014. The fifth summit will also provide the opportunity to sign a bilateral agreement on the liberalisation of air transport, negotiations for which were concluded in March of this year (EUROPE 10341). In the field of immigration, a “sensitive” one for the Brazilians, according to the Commission, the Europeans will remind their host that four member states (Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia and Malta) are still not able to benefit from the visa exemption agreement for short trips, as the Brazilian Senate has not yet ratified it. The EIB and the Brazilian Development Bank will sign an agreement opening up a line of credit of €500 million for projects in the field of energy. This is a sector in which Brazil has adopted a particularly offensive stance. Lastly, Rousseff is planning to make use of her trip to Brussels to open the cultural festival “Europalia Brazil”. She will then visit Bulgaria, where she has family ties, then Turkey. (MB/transl.fl)