President says he was “very impressed” with the Prime Minister of Italy; he invited Giorgia to visit Brazil
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) praised this Thursday (June 22, 2023) the Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, who is from the right and has already criticized the Brazilian. The president said he leaves ideological issues aside when he visits another head of state.
“When a head of state meets another, the ideological question is not at stake. […] I came here to discuss what is important to do so that both countries can win. In no country that I visit do I worry about the ideological thinking of the president”, he said.
The president spoke to journalists in Rome this Thursday morning, after a series of meetings on Wednesday (21.jun.2023), among them, with the Italian president, Sergio Mattarella, and with the prime minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni. He left for Paris soon after, where he will meet his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron.
Lula said he stayed “well impressed” with Meloni, and celebrated the fact that she was the first woman to hold the position. “It is already extraordinary novelty in the midst of so many men. In a world that is still very sexist, a woman winning the election in Italy is an extraordinary fact, as it was with Dilma [Rousseff] in Brazil”, he said.
The two met on Wednesday at the Chigi Palace, seat of the Italian government, located in Rome. Initially, the meeting would not take place due to “agenda issues”. The meeting, however, was confirmed at the last minute, as the president was on a flight to Italy.
There was a concern on the part of the diplomats of both governments that Lula’s visit to the European country without a meeting with the prime minister could symbolize the overlapping of ideological differences with the pragmatic agenda between Brasília and Rome. Lula said he had invited Meloni to visit Brazil, a country she has not been to.
In the interview, Lula also said that Meloni will face “a lot of prejudice and machismo”. “The gender issue still weighs heavily. There is a growth of hatred, violence and disrespect against women.”he said.
The gender agenda and the defense of greater participation of women in politics are the influence of the Brazilian first lady, Janja Lula da Silva, who publicly debates these issues.
Lula also said that Meloni has “head in place” and is smart. “We have to hope that it can work in Italy and the country can grow”he said.
Cesare Battisti
Representative of the Italian right and founder of the Brothers of Italy party, Meloni harshly criticized Lula in the past, when he was in opposition. The main one is about the case of former member of the group PAC (Armed Proletarians for Communism) Cesare Battisti, convicted of 4 homicides that occurred in the late 1970s in Italy.
Battisti spent 14 years in Brazil as a fugitive from Italian justice. In total, he was for 40 years in this condition. On the last day of his second term, in 2010, Lula granted political refuge to Battisti. The decision angered the Italians at the time. The government there was asking for his extradition.
In December 2018, the minister of the STF (Federal Supreme Court) Luiz Fux ordered the arrest of the Italian so that he could be extradited. In the same month, then-president Michel Temer (MDB) ordered his extradition. At the time, however, Battisti was considered a fugitive.
At that time, Battisti’s arrest had been determined by the Federal Supreme Court, and the Michel Temer government prepared extradition. But Battisti was considered a fugitive again. In January 2019, during the government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL), the terrorist was arrested in Bolivia and returned to Italy, where he is serving a life sentence.
In March 2019, Battisti admitted his participation in the 4 homicides committed in the 1970s, when he was active in left-wing armed groups that rebelled against the governments of the time.
In April 2021, Lula apologized to the Italian people for not having extradited Battisti, in an interview with TG2 Post. “I apologize to the Italian people, I thought he was not guilty, but after his confession I can only apologize. I was wrong“, he said.
When former president Jair Bolsonaro was elected in 2018, Meloni celebrated by saying that the left was defeated across the planet and by history. “Finally, peoples are regaining their freedom and sovereignty,” he said at the time.
defense of immigrants
Lula also said that the left, especially the European one, needs to have “the courage” to defend immigration, especially those fleeing conflict. The head of the Brazilian Executive also said that the political spectrum needs a “new utopia” to defeat the growth of the right in the world.
“We need to have the courage to defend the free movement of human beings in the same way that the free movement of money is allowed. Money circulates through all countries without showing a passport. It takes more patience and maturity to defend migrants, who flee because they have no way to survive”, he said.
“It is normal that if there are centers of poverty and violence in the world, people want to move from one place to another. It is important to build this discourse, which will help to clash with the most conservative sectors in Europe, the United States, Latin America, everywhere”, completed.
Lula also defended that leftist movements in the world, but especially in Europe, create a “new utopia” to defeat the ideas of the right. “There was a loss of discourse for the European left. We need to build a new utopia to overcome the utopia created by the right, that the State is worthless, that the State has to be weak, that only the private sector can solve problems. We need to build another discourse”, he said.
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