Brazil’s president is expected to meet with the Brazilian community in Portugal and sign agreements on immigrants’ rights during his official visit to Portugal in April, a source from the Workers’ Party (PT) in Lisbon said.
According to jurist Pedro Prola, who represents the Brazilian Workers’ Party in Portugal, as does Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, during the official visit of Brazil’s Head of State to Portugal between April 22 and 25, there should be what he considered “a fundamental dialogue on migration between the two countries” and the Brazilian president should also meet with the Brazilian community in Lisbon, which is “being worked on”.
In that dialogue on migrations, various issues related to the rights of migrant workers in both countries will be discussed and a global agreement can already be signed.
“In Portugal today there is one of the largest Brazilian populations in the world and the largest immigrant population in the country is Brazilian,” he added.
In this sense, there are a series of questions about “government policies for migrant populations in the world and in Portugal and Brazil”, which should be addressed during this meeting between officials of the two countries, he stressed.
Recalling that in the first government of Lula da Silva, an agreement was approved and signed, which became known as “Lula’s Agreement”, which “allowed for the documentation of thousands of Brazilians, living in Portugal, and also of Portuguese residents in Brazil” .
Now, according to Pedro Prola, “there is already a signal between the two countries, in the sense of a guarantee that not only is there an agreement on equal rights, but there are also a number of other things, such as the recognition of titles. ” [profissionais]access to social security, access to public health, concrete things in the lives of people who work and contribute to the countries where they live”.
Regarding Lula da Silva’s agenda in Portugal, Pedro Prola stressed that so far it has only been confirmed that Brazil’s president will participate in the summit between the two governments and be present at the April 25 celebrations.
Lula “had a huge voice here, he had 64% of the vote, so now is the time to welcome the president, which he deserves, because he is rebuilding Brazil, trying to unite the country, in dialogue with different political and social forces”, stated.
The summit will “certainly be a launch of relations between the two countries”, knowing that this has “importance” in the context, not only politically, but also “dialogue on democracy”.
In addition, “there is also the economic relationship, because they are two commercial partners.
Portugal, he stressed, has “a preponderance in the relationship of Brazil and Mercosur itself with the European Union, in addition to its own economy” and in the affirmation of “public and social policies”, which are “restored today”.
Far-right risks discussed during Lula’s official visit to Portugal
The coordinator of the core of the Workers’ Party (PT) in Lisbon said that during the visit of Brazil’s president to Portugal in April, there should be a public debate on the defense of democracy, something in which the two countries can become allies.
“On democracy, on April 25, it is logical that there is a public debate on this issue,” said the head of the PT in Portugal, emphasizing that “it is up to the Portuguese authorities to define the best model or format” for that debate.
What he says is “fundamental” is that the two countries enter into a dialogue and can “build together and exchange experiences in what is the confirmation of democracies in countries that have gone through processes of extreme right, of authoritarianism, in Brazil a military dictatorship and in Portugal a fascist dictatorship and, in Brazil’s previous government, almost a coup”. Because “Brazil must learn from Portugal in this area and Portugal must also learn from Brazil where the risks of the extreme right lie,” he said.
“We saw what happened in Brazil with Bolsonaro, who was a deputy and rose to become president of the republic in a few years,” he added.
Today, according to the representative of Lula da Silva’s party in Lisbon, Brazil “is a country that has managed to fight the far right, won in the polls of Bolsonaro [ex-chefe de Estado do Brasil apoiado pela extrema-direita]in the battle against ‘fake news’ and disinformation, the fight against xenophobic speech, hate speech and all that cover up used to create a social division that the far right does”.
And these are issues that “could be the subject of dialogue in the context of both countries,” he said, alluding to the growth of the far right in Portugal in the last parliamentary election, in which Chega won a parliamentary seat.
That is why it is important “for Brazil and Portugal to exchange experiences and enter into a dialogue in the sense that they cannot accept fake newsand to be aware that democratic institutions must work and strengthen action within the scope of government, in the sense of participatory democracy, to have mechanisms that can involve the population and representative organizations of the population in the processes of both the construction of legislation and the administrative process,” he defended.
Because among other aspects between the two countries there is “something that is common today, the risk of the extreme right, also of the neoliberal process, destroying certain structures and policies that contribute to cohesion and dialogue between people ” .
Despite Lula da Silva having won the last presidential election, in the second round, which took place on October 31, 2022, he contested with the far-right candidate and former president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, “there is another side that is not democratic and attacks the institutions, and who carried out that act of terrorism on January 8 [a invasão dos três poderes em Brasília]the head of the PT in Portugal recalled.
“So we must have a public policy, we cannot refuse the role of the state in public investment, in addition to private investment in the economy,” he mused, adding: “and I think the destruction that Bolsonaro has caused in Brazil, serves as a warning to Europe”.
For what it will be “in the exchange of experience it is possible to strengthen achievements and respect for democracy,” he concluded.
Faced with this scenario, Pedro Prola says he has “no doubt” that Lula, who will be in Portugal between April 22 and 25, will “deeply compliment Portugal, its democracy and recognizing what a historic democratic process is in Portugal, that was the overthrow of the dictatorship”.
And, “while respecting the sovereignty of the states, it will certainly remember that Portugal’s experience in the conquest of democracy is also something from which, in what is the experience of Brazilian democracy, we have a lot to learn and vice versa it’s the same,” he said.
“I think the Portuguese men and women will also say that in what is the democratic experience Brazil has and in the challenges it often faces, the Portuguese also recognize themselves,” the PT official added, noting that during the process of fighting in defense of democracy, there are inspirations, and the April Revolution is one of them.
As for the controversy over whether or not the Brazilian President will participate in the formal session of April 25 in the Assembly of the Republic, announced by the Portuguese Foreign Minister, João Cravinho, almost two weeks ago in Brasília, which began a controversy that Parliament President Augusto Santos Silva tried to end last Wednesday, Pedro Prola preferred not to comment.
He just said that the Brazilian president “knows historically what the democratic process in Portugal was and has been in Portugal several times, including participating in commemorative activities on April 25 with President Mário Soares”.
Augusto Santos Silva announced last week that Lula da Silva will hold a “solemn welcome session” in parliament, on a date to be determined, in which the Brazilian head of state will intervene, clarifying that it is not the same as on the 25 April, as announced by João Gomes Cravinho.
“We will be delighted to host the President of the Federative Republic of Brazil in a solemn welcoming session, which will be particularly indebted to him,” Augusto Santos Silva announced at the end of a session of the leaders’ conference.
As for what he expects from this visit by the President of Brazil and Portugal, Pedro Prola, he considered that “the expectation among people is that it is a visit that consolidates the relationship between the two countries. First, this is fundamental, and arises from the need and political responsibility that governments have, which the previous government of Brazil did not respect, namely dialogue in the sense of responding to challenges and needs from the point of view of relations between the two countries”.
In the context of the population of the two countries, who are part Brazilian, Portuguese or have dual citizenship, in the economic issue, which has the commercial investment relationship, the relationship of Europe and the European Union with Mercosur, the cultural and political issue in terms of democracy, which “also relates to April 25”, he specified.
This goes beyond “environmental conservation, which is a matter of great weight, and the defense of indigenous peoples, which also takes place outside Brazil,” he concluded.
Source: DN
