MEPs met this Monday with Brazil’s former president and candidate, Lula da Silva, to “restore the dialogue” between Brazil and Europe that will be broken off under the current government, Portuguese MEP Pedro Marques said.
“We are in the middle of an election campaign, and in this case we are talking about the conditions that, of course, were interrupted during these four years of relations between Brazil and Europe (…) They were practically interrupted due to the fact that the president [Jair Bolsonaro] interrupted them,” he told Lusa news agency Pedro Marquez.
The Socialist and Democrat (S&D) MEP spoke with Lusa after a “very important” meeting with Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
“Many of us talked about the resumption of the democratic process, the protection of fundamental human rights while protecting the Amazon, the protection of women’s rights and, above all, the relationship between Europe and Latin America,” Pedro Marquez added.
According to the MEP, many Latin American countries, as they hope in Brazil, have elected representatives of the democratic field in the last elections.
“We believe and observe that Brazil is also undergoing a change in favor of democracy and that this allows Europe to be reunited with Brazil, Europe to be reunited with Latin America,” he defended.
Regarding tensions in the Brazilian electoral process, Márquez recalled that the S&D group of the European Parliament was in Brazil for four days, and although they did not address the issue with Lula da Silva, the national elections scheduled for October in the South American country were the subject of other meetings. with representatives of institutions, cooperatives and civil society organizations.
“We know that there are indeed risks, but we have a lot of faith in Brazilian democracy and we hope that it will be protected. We believe that it cannot be otherwise. (…) In Europe, we would never accept anything other than not fully democratic and free elections here in Brazil,” said Pedro Marques Lusa.
Speaking to a delegation of MEPs, Lula da Silva, who leads the polls with over 45% of the vote, followed by Brazil’s incumbent Jair Bolsonaro with over 30%, also spoke about the environment, a topic that will delay the ratification of the free trade agreement. signed in 2019 between the European bloc and MERCOSUR (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay).
Lula da Silva stressed that if he wins the election, it will become very clear that “Brazil needs the European Union, whether through investments, alliances or exchanges of experience, and to build a world free of greenhouse gases.”
“And Brazil can become the protagonist and use the Amazon to extract a wealth of biodiversity sufficient to support the nearly 30 million people living in this region,” said Lula da Silva, quoted by the Efe news agency.
For the progressive Brazilian candidate and leader, scientific research must be encouraged to “discover all the riches that exist in the Amazonian biodiversity”, and for this “he intends to build alliances with many countries”, including European ones. block
“Although the territory belongs to Brazil, the Amazon is in the interests of the survival of mankind, and everyone has a duty to take care of it,” Lula da Silva said, adding later that “Europe needs Brazil, and Brazil needs Europe.”
Lula’s meeting with MEPs took place in São Paulo as part of a trip to Brazil, Chile and Argentina by the delegation of the S&D group in the European Parliament to Latin America.
The delegation is led by S&D leader Spaniard Iratxe García and includes Portuguese PS MEPs Pedro Márquez (Group Vice President for Foreign Affairs) and Maria Manuel Leitao Márquez (S&D Coordinator in the Euro-Latin Parliamentary Assembly). ).-American, Eurolat).
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
