The summit of the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) in Johannesburg, South Africa, from Tuesday, August 22 to Thursday, August 24, while war rages in Ukraine, represents a collective identity whose demands cannot be ignored, but also one whose unspoken words – and indeed, deliberate omissions – cannot be overlooked. In a world that is becoming progressively less multilateral and more transactional, Europe needs to keep its cool, while keeping its eyes wide open.

The BRICS emerged in 2003, in the wake of the war in Iraq, under the initiative of Brazil, which like many others was appalled by the US intervention. The grouping embodies a political identity that dates back to the 1955 Bandung Conference (Indonesia), of countries seeking to emancipate themselves from Western control, aiming in particular to prevent the global agenda from being dictated or determined by the G7 countries alone. Not least in view of their growing economic clout and the fact that demographically speaking, they have become the largest group on the planet.

Today, almost twenty countries - and not insignificant ones - have applied to join the BRICS, and seventy-seven countries have been invited. The BRICS are a voice for a non-Western world in search of its own identity, one that wants to exist on its own without compromising the sovereignty of each of its members.

This is their strength and their weakness. They are all in agreement when it comes to condemning Western encroachment, but they are not willing to share their power. The BRICS are therefore not an alliance, but a loose coalition of sovereign states. There is no discussion here about human rights, corruption or democracy. For many countries, this is where the coalition's appeal lies.

The BRICS represent the demands of countries that want to talk about energy transition, climate change and debt reduction, and are concerned that financing Ukraine's reconstruction deprives them of financial resources to which they are legitimately entitled. In the Ukrainian question, the sometimes tense discussions that Europeans have had with the Global South have had less to do with the characterization of Russian aggression than with the emphasis – deemed excessive – that the West has placed on this issue.

They note that annual funding for the energy transition is not being met, although Europe has fulfilled its obligations. Finally, they are concerned that measures designed to combat climate change are leading to the prohibition of several deforestation-linked products from European markets.

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