The European Union has congratulated Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on his re-election as president of Brazil, hours after his right-wing rival Flávio Bolsonaro rejected the result of the October 25 run-off.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on social media that “democracy and multilateralism” had won in Brazil. She called Lula a friend and said Europe’s partnership with the country was thriving.
Von der Leyen added that the two sides would continue to work closely on free and open trade, a rules-based global order and climate ambition.
European Council President António Costa said he had telephoned Lula to congratulate him and that the Brazilian people had spoken. He called the EU and Brazil solid partners and said both would work to deepen ties and address global challenges.
Brazil’s electoral court gave Lula 51.8 per cent of valid votes against 48.2 per cent for Bolsonaro, a lead of almost 4.4 million ballots with every polling station counted. Turnout was close to 81 per cent.
The run-off reversed the first round on October 4, which Bolsonaro won with 47 per cent to Lula’s 45.2 per cent.
Bolsonaro, a senator and eldest son of the jailed former president Jair Bolsonaro, refused to accept the count. His campaign objected to a decision by Supreme Court judge Cristiano Zanin to extend voting by two hours, which could become the basis of a legal challenge.
Neither von der Leyen nor Costa mentioned that dispute in their messages.
For Brussels the stakes are commercial as much as diplomatic. The EU-Mercosur interim trade agreement has applied provisionally since May 1, while the wider partnership agreement still requires ratification by all 27 member states.
The European Parliament asked the European Court of Justice in January to rule on whether the trade terms can apply before that process is finished, a referral that could delay the agreement by two years. Austria, France, Hungary, Ireland and Poland voted against the deal in the Council and farmers’ organisations have fought it across the bloc.
Lula’s return also preserves one of the EU’s closest partners on the political Left. In April he co-hosted a summit in Barcelona with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez that launched a global Left alliance with Alexander Soros’s Open Society Foundations in a co-hosting role.
Brazilian relations with Washington remain strained after the tariffs and judicial sanctions imposed by the United States in 2025. Lula, who turns 81 on October 27, is due to be sworn in for a fourth term on January 1.
