EU-Brazil in Global Governance: the case of biofuels

In the broad framework of the international talks between the European Union (EU) and Mercosur regarding the potential trade deal, many sensitive issues have come up as obstacles to negotiation, such as agriculture and biofuels. However, Brazil-EU collaboration on biofuels has a deeper history on both bilateral and trilateral levels to promote biofuel production in underdeveloped countries. In this framework, environmental and social issues related to this specific agricultural production did not seem to engender the same kinds of debates. In a context where the EU-Brazil relationship on
energy security and sustainable development is part of a political project aimed at consolidating their respective status as powers, it is relevant to reflect on the following question: How does this struggle affect the EU and Brazil’s power-seeking strategies?