Speech by Executive Vice-President Dombrovskis at the University of Brasilia:
Senhoras e senhores:
É um prazer e uma honra estar aqui nesta cidade única. Muito obrigado pelo convite.
Ladies and gentlemen
It is a pleasure to return to this beautiful country.
This is the first time that I am visiting in my capacity as EU Commissioner for Trade.
Let me start by saying that I am very impressed with Brazil’s economic dynamism.
It has developed enormously since I last visited in 2011.
I come from Latvia, a small country in northern Europe. We joined the European Union in 2004, and EU membership has transformed my country on every level.
It made Latvia stronger and more secure, more resilient in the face of crises, more prosperous and socially cohesive.
This is why I am in favour of closer integration between like-minded partners.
And this brings me to the importance of our mutually beneficial relationship with your country.
In today’s challenging global context, Europe and Brazil are essential partners, especially given that Brazil is the EU’s most important trade and investment partner in the region.
We welcome the renewed dynamic in the EU-Brazil relationship. And we are keen to deepen our cooperation under the strategic partnership.
For this reason, we welcome Brazil’s proposal to host the next EU-Brazil Summit in 2025. It is long overdue and much needed: it will be our first summit in more than ten years.
Our longstanding partnership is well founded on many shared values and interests, as well as strong economic, social and cultural ties.
For the EU, it is a priority to boost relations with a region that can be a strategic ally in pursuing these values, as well as a key partner in multilateral fora. This was our message during last year’s summit with Latin American countries in Brussels.
Looking at the broader region, the EU and Latin America have already developed one of the densest networks of association, trade, political and cooperation agreements.
And trade is key: the EU is Latin America’s third largest trade partner.
We have agreements in place with Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, as well as with the Central American region. In 2022, we concluded the modernisation of the agreement with Chile.
There has been considerable progress towards achieving the modernisation of the EU-Mexico trade agreement.
We hope to be able to conclude negotiations with the new Mexican government soon.
For both sides, it is important to further develop our trade and investment agenda.
Completing the existing trade network by concluding the EU-Mercosur agreement would significantly strengthen our relationship. This trade deal has already been under negotiation for 25 years.
As European Trade Commissioner, I have spent the last four years trying to convince people that trade creates jobs and economic opportunities.
Trade not only supports smaller and family businesses, but also helps countries to diversify their supply chains and boost exports. All this is essential for economic growth and stability. So, I would like to underline that we are convinced that an agreement between the EU and Mercosur is important, both politically and economically.
If concluded, it would increase our competitiveness, create jobs, and reduce global economic fragmentation.
So it can even help the world economy to stay on track.
We are already very significant trading partners. The EU is Mercosur’s number one trade and investment partner, and its second largest partner in trading goods after China.
Our agreement would create a marketplace between two regions with a combined population of over 700 million people. This would be one of the world’s largest economic and trade partnerships.
We estimate that this agreement would result in GDP rising by up to €15 billion in the EU and up to €11.4 billion in Mercosur countries.
It would bring new quality jobs to both sides. It would open up many innovative opportunities for our companies.
And it would encourage more European investment – particularly sustainable investment – to flow into the region.
It would help to integrate Brazil’s industries into the EU’s highly innovative value chains.
In turn, it would help them to become more competitive, and help Brazil in its efforts to re-industrialise.
It would provide an excellent basis for working together on global challenges, engaging on digital and industrial development, as well as labour rights and climate change. It would contribute to promote the green transition on both continents, as Brazil is emerging as a green powerhouse.
The EU-Mercosur agreement is modern and innovative, reflecting the latest standards on trade and sustainable development. Over the last year, we have been negotiating an additional instrument to provide ambitious and detailed commitments on sustainable development, particularly on addressing deforestation. This additional instrument would then be incorporated in the agreement.
In this context, I welcome the significant steps Brazil has taken under President Lula to reduce deforestation and commit to zero deforestation by 2030.
Brazil’s latest nationally determined contribution, submitted ahead of COP 28, includes ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets over the next five years.
This sets Brazil on a trajectory towards net-zero emissions by 2050: an objective that Brazil shares with the EU.
In short, that would be much more than a trade agreement.
It relates to the EU’s long-term commitment to the region, strengthening our political and economic partnership with Mercosur countries, and creating a new alliance at a time when democracies depend on each other.
In today’s turbulent times, reinforcing our ties with like-minded partners and countries is essential.
The world has become more unstable. It affects all of us, in Europe as well as Brazil.
Alliances and strategic relations are being redefined, shifting in ways that have not been seen since the end of the Cold War. Authoritarian regimes are pushing hard to promote their global ambitions. Our world is becoming shaped by raw power politics.
Russia’s illegal and unjustified war against Ukraine has eroded the international order which took so many years to build, and which has allowed democracy to prevail over autocracy.
If we allow Russia to violate the United Nations Charter, other countries may also feel emboldened to use force for territorial gains. This kind of destabilisation is not in the interests of the international community.
It would also signal to Putin, and other would-be dictators, that using brute force to oppress an independent sovereign country and its people, to seize its territory, is somehow acceptable. To be clear: it is far from being acceptable.
It is a blatant violation of international law and condemned several times at the United Nations. I would like to encourage Brazil to be more vocal in its condemnation of Russia’s illegal war.
So, in geopolitical terms at the very least, it is very important that we remain united against Putin’s aggression and in support of Ukraine.
Unfortunately, today’s geopolitical dangers expand far beyond the horrific war in Ukraine.
The EU is extremely concerned by the constant escalation in tensions in the Middle East. We are now facing a dangerous cycle of attacks and retaliation risks, and also a humanitarian catastrophe in this region.
Again, this is in nobody’s interest. All this has a negative impact on economy and trade, with far-ranging consequences for the stability of global supply chains.
Ladies and gentlemen
In Europe, free and fair trade has brought prosperity to EU Member States.
We have put a dense network of trade agreements in place that support many millions of jobs.
And we also have the single market, one of the EU’s greatest achievements.
As one of the world’s largest economies, and home to around 450 million consumers, the single market guarantees that goods, services, people and capital can move freely across the EU’s territory.
It provides an excellent opportunity for companies, and not only European, to grow and innovate, invest in new and emerging technologies: clean tech, artificial intelligence, quantum computing, for example.
It provides us with economic strength as we press ahead with tackling climate change and embracing the digital age.
Europe’s trading power and economic openness is essential to our prosperity. We support rules-based trade, including through a reformed and strengthened World Trade Organization.
But while the EU is committed to free and open trade, our openness is not unconditional. We need to ensure that we all compete on fair terms and on an international level-playing field.
Here, however, we are increasingly experiencing distortive trade policies and the weaponisation of trade and dependencies.
Let me give you a concrete example that will resonate in Brazil: the electric vehicles sector.
Global markets are flooded with cheap Chinese electric cars, and Europe is the largest market that remains open.
Our response has been very clear. On the basis of sufficient evidence that their price is kept artificially low by significant presence of public subsidies, we launched an anti-subsidy investigation into electric vehicles imported from China.
Our evidence and fact-based investigation clearly concluded that such illegal subsidisation threatens to cause economic injury to EU producers.
As a result, our Member States have now voted in favour of imposing definitive countervailing duties on such imports.
I must underline that we do not want to introduce tariffs for the sake of introducing tariffs. In parallel, we continue our dialogue with China to find other possible solutions, such as price undertakings.
We are using trade defence instruments to fight unfair and injurious trade practices, fully in line with our international rights and obligations.
In this context, our agreement would provide us the tools to address such trade distortions and promote a level-playing field.
In this increasingly complex environment, our answer is to reinforce our links with like-minded countries to create long-term and mutually beneficial partnerships – by investing in a common future.
Ladies and gentlemen
I have talked at great length – so once again, many thanks for inviting me to speak at your prestigious university.
It has been a pleasure to address you today. I wish every success in your studies and future careers. Brazil, and indeed the world, will need your energy, creativity, self-discipline and social commitment.
Muito obrigado!
Source – EU Commission