The Portuguese head of state, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, considered this Friday that the Portuguese-Brazilian relations with the elected president of Brazil, Lula da Silva, who will take office on Sunday, “they are off to a great start“.
In statements to journalists, in a hotel in Brasilia, where he arrived that day to represent the Portuguese State in the inauguration of Lula da Silva, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa did not want, however, to criticize the mandate of the outgoing president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, nor comment on his trip to the United States.
Asked if he feels that new air is being breathed in the Brazilian capital, he replied: “In Brazil I always breathe a familiar air.”
Asked what could improve bilateral relations with the next Brazilian president, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa highlighted Lula da Silva’s recent visit to Portugal, between November 18 and 19: “I think that the a good traditionwho was the elected president of Brazil on his first trip abroad through Portugal”.
Lula da Silva visited Portugal after participating in the 27th United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP27), in Egypt, and Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa received him at the Belém Palace, in Lisbon, for an hour and a quarter, on 19 of November. . Subsequently, the President-elect of Brazil was received by the Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa will meet Lula da Silva in Brasilia on Monday, the day after he took office, and announced that the President of Brazil will travel to Portugal from April 22 to 25 for a state visit, at his invitation, and a summit between the Portuguese and Brazilian governments.
The visit “culminates with participation in the ceremony on April 25” and on that occasion, the Camões Award “has long been given to three winners in recent years,” one of whom is Brazilian singer Chico Buarque, he added.
“So he’s off to a great start.“, considered the Portuguese president.
At the multilateral level, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa affirmed that “Portugal has always defended that there must be an agreement between the European Union and Mercosur and has always defended that the role of Brazil was crucial”, placing itself “by Brazil’s side” in this affair.
The Portuguese head of state assured that “Portugal, together with the European countries – which are few, very few – that have raised the problem, will do everything possible to make it possible as soon as possible to have the final conclusion” of this agreement, which “It’s practically ready.”
“It’s good for Europe and it’s good for Mercosur, and it’s good for Brazil, it’s good for Portugal,” he said.
In Brasilia, the President of the Republic refused to speak about the internal Portuguese political situation: “Here in Brazil, after what I said at the beginning, and I said it intentionally at the beginning, to be said in Portuguese territory, I am not going to resume , take up what I said ten years ago. hours”.
About his visits to Brazil during the Bolsonaro government, he declared: “I never felt ashamed, frankly, the times i came here“.
“I came here at the most difficult moment, there is no comparison with this one”, said Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, recalling a visit to Brazil “in the midst of the Portuguese revolution”, with Costa Gomes President of the Republic and Vasco Gonçalves Prime Minister, when Médici was President of Brazil, “in full military dictatorship.”
“The relationship at the state level could not be worse, and I was in charge of the Portuguese Football Federation delegation to the inauguration of the Goiânia stadium“he added.
Regarding the moment of transition in Brazil, he observed: “Life goes on, and it goes on with a perspective that is an important perspective for both countries.”
Highlighting the number of Brazilians living in Portugal, the Portuguese residing in Brazil and the many Portuguese-Brazilians, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said that some voted for Bolsonaro, others for Lula, but that “above these divisions is the relationship between Both countries. , which is great.”
Source: Observadora
