In a meeting, Lula thanks the mayor of Rome for solidarity

Rome Italy) – President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva met this Wednesday afternoon (21), in Rome, with the mayor of the city, Roberto Gualtieri. The meeting took place at the city hall office and was personal, since Gualtieri was one of the international personalities who visited Lula during the period in which the former president was imprisoned in Curitiba, between 2018 and 2019, within the scope of Operation Lava Jato. At the time of the visit, in July 2018, Gualtieri was a MEP for the Italian Democratic Party.

“It is a thank you visit, to express my gratitude for the loyalty, solidarity and behavior of Mayor Gualtieri when I was detained by the Federal Police in my country”, said Lula, in an emotional tone. “In addition to being a friend, I am a fervent supporter of his extraordinary administration in the city of Rome”,

added the president.

In 2021, the Federal Supreme Court (STF) annulled all of Lula’s convictions and even judged the then judge responsible for the actions, now Senator Sérgio Moro (Podemos-PR), as a suspect magistrate, in the case that became known as the Guarujá triplex . After the revelation of a series of messages, the ministers of the STF considered that the judge adopted a partial position and colluded with the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) in the investigations against the petista.

Roberto Gualtieri also addressed Lula as a friend and highlighted the international weight of the Brazilian president’s image.

“For me, this meeting was a true happiness, meeting a true friend and seeing such an important personality for me, for the government of Rome and for a more just and social development in the world”,

said the prefect of Rome.

After the meeting, which ended around 8:00 pm, local time (3:00 pm, by Brasilia time), Lula still spends one more night in Rome. On Thursday (22) morning, at 8:30 am (Rome time), he will give a press conference at the hotel where he is staying in the Italian capital, to take stock of his agenda in the city.

agenda in Italy

In his first meeting of the day, in Rome, President Lula met with former Italian Prime Minister Massimo D’Alema. The two talked about the political situation in Brazil and the European left and social democracy in Europe.

Then he had a meeting with the general secretary of the Italian Democratic Party, Elly Schlein, one of the leaders of the opposition in the local parliament, 38 years old. With her, Lula spoke about the political conjunctures in Italy and Brazil and about the need for greater union between progressive parties around the world.

Afterwards, he was received by the President of Italy, Sergio Mattarella, at the Quirinale Palace. The two talked about the free trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union, about the approximation between universities and the expansion of commercial exchange between the two countries. Brazil and Italy signed a Strategic Partnership agreement in 2007, during President Lula’s second term. In 2010, an action plan came into effect that highlighted 16 key areas of cooperation between the two countries.

After the meeting with Mattarella, Lula met Pope Francis at the Vatican, where they talked about solutions for peace, environmental preservation and the fight against hunger and social and economic inequalities in the world. “We are in times of war and peace is very fragile”, Francisco told Lula.

At the Vatican, Lula invited the Pope to make a new visit to Brazil, to attend the traditional feast of the Círio de Nazaré, in Belém (PA), in October. The pontiff’s first international trip after taking office, in 2013, was to Rio de Janeiro.

After the visit to the Vatican, Lula met with the Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, at the Chigi Palace. Until the eve of the trip, the meeting with the head of government of the European country had not been confirmed and started to appear on the agenda only yesterday. The first woman to hold the post, Meloni is the leader of the country’s first far-right government in decades.

Lula arrived in Rome on Tuesday morning (20) and his first appointment in the Italian capital, just yesterday, was with sociologist Domenico de Masi, an international reference in studies on the sociology of work. Author of the book Creative Leisure, de Masi became famous for the concept according to which leisure is a factor that stimulates personal creativity. Like Roberto Gualtieri, Domenico de Mais also visited Lula in prison in Curitiba. At the meeting, the two talked about the political scene in Brazil and Europe.

*With information from Agência Brasil

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