European Union officials used a major security conference in Brazil on Tuesday to present the bloc as a stable and predictable partner, citing growing instability tied to the strategic rivalry between the United States and China.
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Speaking at the Forte de Copacabana International Security Conference, Brian Glynn, the European External Action Service’s managing director for the Americas, said the EU was not seeking to distance itself from either power.
But he pointed to shifting dynamics – including the return of Donald Trump to the White House and closer ties between Beijing and Moscow – as reasons for Brussels to bolster its ties with countries in the Global South.
“The export-led, fossil fuel-driven economy is the past,” said Glynn, referencing China’s growing trade presence in Latin America. “What we share with Latin America is an agenda for a green, digital and just transition.”
Of the “just” component, the senior EU envoy explained: “We’re not here to extract resources. We’re here to build, together, a development agenda for this new economy – and to secure our own transition.”
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Over the past year, Brussels has been accelerating its outreach to Latin America and the Caribbean, bearing new pledges of financing and political cooperation aimed at positioning the EU as a long-term, values-based partner.