The European Union is making no secret of its ambitions: it wants Brazil — and as many countries as possible — by its side in the global technological race centered on artificial intelligence. On Friday, the bloc signed an unprecedented digital partnership at the Itamaraty Palace in Brasília. A day earlier, at Web Summit Rio, one of the EU’s most senior officials laid bare the strategic thinking behind the move.
A “Reliable Partner” in a Fractured World
Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice President of the European Commission for Technological Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, took center stage at Web Summit Rio on Thursday to discuss the partnership — and the geopolitical context driving it.
When asked what makes a country a “reliable partner,” Virkkunen cited Brazil by name. She also referenced the recently concluded EU-Mercosur trade deal as another pillar of a deepening transatlantic relationship.
Her remarks came amid a broader conversation about technological sovereignty and Europe’s exposure to both American and Chinese big tech. The message was clear: the EU is actively building alliances outside the US-China axis. One concrete example is the Euro-Office, an open-source productivity suite set to be adopted at the governmental level across several countries.
An Exclusive Club of Five
With Friday’s agreement, Brazil joins a select group of just four other nations holding this type of partnership with the EU: Canada, South Korea, Japan and Singapore.
The deal covers cooperation across a range of strategic areas, including AI regulation, data governance, public digital infrastructure, digital identity and signatures, child protection online, and coordination in multilateral internet governance forums.
The partnership did not emerge overnight. Brazil and the EU have been cultivating digital ties for years: in 2024, they formalized a Digital Economy Dialogue, and in February 2025 approved a joint work plan for 2025–2026 focused on AI, data governance, connectivity and 6G networks. Friday’s agreement elevates that technical dialogue to a high-level political commitment.
Brazil’s growing domestic AI ecosystem — which includes homegrown ventures such as Maritaca AI, developer of Portuguese-language models — makes it a particularly attractive partner for a Europe seeking to diversify beyond Silicon Valley and Beijing.
A Message to Apple — and a Pledge on Infrastructure
At her Web Summit panel, Virkkunen also detailed the EU’s sweeping technological sovereignty package, unveiled the previous week, which includes ambitious targets to reduce European dependence on foreign chips, cloud services and software.
On Apple and Siri in Europe: When pressed on Apple’s decision not to launch its revamped AI-powered Siri in the European market — citing compliance concerns with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) — Virkkunen was blunt. “There is nothing in the DMA that prevents Apple from bringing its new products to Europe,” she said. “That was their decision.” She argued that interoperability requirements do not mean exposing trade secrets, but simply ensuring that tech giants cannot lock competitors out of the market.
On AI infrastructure: The EU is building 19 AI factories distributed across the bloc. Within a year, the promise is that European computational capacity will be five times its current size — and made available to startups and small businesses to train their own models.
On AI adoption: Only 20% of European companies currently use AI, according to a 2025 survey. The EU’s official target is 75% by 2030. Virkkunen acknowledged the current figure is troublingly low: “Perhaps we should have an even higher target, because I think all businesses should be using the benefits of AI.”
On the AI Act and AI agents: Facing criticism that the EU is regulating yesterday’s technology, Virkkunen pushed back: the AI Act already covers AI agents, she said, treating them as part of the generative AI category — which carries obligations for risk assessment and mitigation.
The Bigger Picture
The partnership signals that the race for AI leadership is no longer just a two-horse contest between the United States and China. Europe is betting that building a coalition of “reliable partners” — countries that share its values around openness, safety and democratic governance of technology — is the path to relevance in a world being reshaped by artificial intelligence.
Brazil, for its part, is positioning itself not just as a market, but as a co-author of the rules that will govern the technology for decades to come.
Source: Tecnoblog, Web Summit Rio, RTP
