Brussels and Brasilia tudo bem

Hot on the heels of the announcement of the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, yesterday's EU-Brazil summit in Stockholm is further testament "to the growing importance" of Brazil, notes La Vanguardia. The summit, which, as the Barcelona daily reports, may prove to be a milestone in "President Luís Inácio Lula Da Silva's sixth year in office," is also an acknowledgement "of Brazil's role as global political force." According to *La Vanguardia, "Europe is eager to develop closer ties with Lula, who presides over a nation, which is a major economic player and an undisputed leader in Latin America." In the run-up to the Copenhagen Climate Summit (COP15) in December, the EU considers its alliance with Brazil to be even more strategic than its alliances with China, India and United States. For La Vanguardia, the development of closer ties is "historic both for Brazil and the EU, because it is the first time that the EU has sought to establish an alliance of this kind with an emerging nation that aspires to become a world power."*