Read the text below in order to answer questions 36
to 40:
WESTERN EUROPE
Important results grew out of the diplomatic
action of Brazil vis-à-vis the Western European
countries throughout the 1990s contributing in a
significant way to the international insertion of the
country. Diverse initiatives of a political, economic
and cultural nature were implemented at the
bilateral level with each country in the region and
also at the multilateral level with the European
Union – the most advanced experiment in regional
integration ever made and whose success
inspired the creation of the Common Market of the
South (Mercosur).
Relations with Western Europe, one of the
priorities of Brazilian foreign policy, are
characterized by an unusual combination of
foundations: a common history (Portuguese
discovery and colonization, 60 years of the Iberian
Union, the Dutch presence in the Northeast); the
role played by immigration and European culture
in the formation of Brazil (numerous communities
of descendants, language, religion and shared
values), the dynamism of economic exchange (the
European Union is our major trading partner and
the primary source of direct investment in the
country); and the intensity of the political dialogue
(high level government contacts are constant and
distinguished by a constructive spirit).