2023-04-21 03:00:00
Brasilia – The President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, will begin today his first European tour with a visit to Portugal and Spain, a week following proposing himself as a mediator for peace in Ukraine following the controversies that arose following his summit in China with Xi Jinping and the meeting he held in Brasilia with the Russian Foreign Minister, Serguei Lavrov.
The trip is particularly relevant due to the White House’s public rejection of statements in which Lula da Silva blamed the invading country, Russia, and the invaded country, Ukraine, equally responsible for the war, as well as his definition that the United States had not done more than fuel that conflict. The left-wing leader is expected to return to Europe in his footsteps and seek reconciliation with the West.
Also on his agenda is the acceleration of negotiations for the application of the trade agreement between the European Union (EU) and Mercosur, reported the Itamaraty Palace.
Lula will arrive in Lisbon today and tomorrow he will hold an official agenda that will include a summit with President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, a historical ally of the Workers’ Party (PT), who had a tense relationship with former President Jair Bolsonaro. She will then move to Spain.
Context
Lula da Silva’s visit to the Iberian Peninsula comes following Brussels and Washington repudiated statements by the Brazilian president following visiting China, a country that has been Brazil’s main trading partner since 2009, thus displacing the United States, and with which he seeks to lead a kind of club of nations for peace in Ukraine.
Lula da Silva complained that, as members of NATO, “Europe and the United States end up contributing to the continuation of this war in Ukraine,” to which the White House responded that the Brazilian “is parroting propaganda Russian and Chinese.
After his words also caused anger in kyiv, the Brazilian president clarified that his government, in addition to defending a negotiated solution to the conflict, “condemns the violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine.”
It is within this framework that Lula da Silva seeks to relaunch relations with two of the main investors in Brazil, Portugal and Spain, especially economic ones.
On Saturday, Lula and his Portuguese counterpart will hold a ministerial working meeting at the Belém Palace, the official seat of government, the secretary for Europe and North America of the Brazilian Foreign Ministry, María Luisa Escorel, reported at a press conference.
Activity
The official agenda will continue on Monday in Porto with a Brazilian-Portuguese business forum with 150 executives from both countries and a foreign trade agreement.
On Tuesday, Lula will make a speech before the Portuguese National Assembly (parliament) to receive a tribute on the emblematic date for the Portuguese, which recalls the day in 1974 in which the Salazarist dictatorship fell through a military civic movement known as “the revolution of the Carnations”.
On Tuesday, in Madrid, Lula plans to attend a seminar that will bring together Brazilian and Spanish businessmen.
He will also meet with King Felipe VI and on Wednesday he will be received by the President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, at the Moncloa Palace.
In Madrid and Lisbon, Lula will defend the progress of the negotiation for a free trade agreement between Mercosur and the EU, which needs to be ratified by the parliaments of all countries, a process that stopped in 2019.
For the Escorel diplomat, the EU-Mercosur agreement will be a topic addressed in more depth in Madrid with Sánchez, especially due to the fact that, during the second semester, Spain will hold the EU presidency and Brazil will do the same in the second semester. Mercosur.
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