Lula is booed and accused of corruption in speech in Portugal

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) spoke at the Portuguese parliament, this Tuesday morning (25), to a mix of applause and protests from parliamentarians, mainly oppositionists, at the ceremony that recalled the Carnation Revolution 49 years ago. The date is commemorated by the fall of António Salazar’s dictatorship in 1974 and has a strong appeal in the country.

The protests began in Lula’s first speeches, when he thanked the Portuguese government for inviting him to visit. A group of opposition deputies held up posters with the words “no more corruption” and “a thief’s place is in prison”, in addition to the Ukrainian flag, to protest against the statements given by the Brazilian president that the war in Eastern Europe would have a responsibility shared between Ukraine and Russia.

The demonstration by the opposition generated a reprimand from the president of the house, Augusto Santos Silva, saying that the deputies who wanted to remain in the plenary session should “behave with the urbanity, courtesy and education that is required of any representative of the Portuguese people”. However, the protests continued until the plenary silenced for the resumption of Lula’s speech and were repeated several times later throughout the session.

In a speech read, without improvisations, as occurred during the participation in the Portugal-Brazil Business Forum on Monday (24) in which he criticized the interest rate and the privatization of Brazilian companies, Lula mentioned the revolution of April 25, saying that the movement was assisted by Brazil to, years later, begin “our journey towards the reconquest of freedom and democracy”, in reference to the dictatorship installed in 1964 and which ended in 1985.

“Even so, democracy in Brazil has recently experienced moments of serious threat. Missing authoritarianism tried to set back our clock by 50 years and reverse the freedoms we won since the democratic transition. The attacks were constant. The Portuguese brothers watched everything, worried about the possibility that Brazil would turn its back on the world”, he said in reference to the acts of January 8.

Throughout the speech, Lula repeated speeches that he has made in many of the events he has been to, such as the “return of Brazil” to the international scene, protection of the environment and energy transition, facing the climate crisis, sustainable development, racism, gender, among others.

“Dictatorship of algorithms” and war in Ukraine

At another point in the speech, Lula stated that the world “has faced multiple crises in the last two decades”, among them the “recrudescence of extremist ideologies, driven by the dictatorship of algorithms”.

“Here in Europe, demagogic politicians who say they are not politicians, deny the benefits achieved on the continent in decades of peace, cooperation and development within the European Union. I consider the resulting integration of the European Union to be a democratic heritage of humanity. And I saw in Brazil, the tragic consequence that always happens when politics is denied, dialogue is denied”, he mentioned.

“Brazil understands the apprehension caused by the return of war to Europe. We condemn the violation of Ukraine’s territorial integrity. We believe in an international order founded on respect for International Law and the preservation of national sovereignties,” he said, citing the need for dialogue and democracy.

Lula also resumed the government’s old project of campaigning for a “reform that results in the expansion” of the United Nations Security Council. Lula defended a permanent seat for Brazil on the collegiate which, according to him, “is practically paralyzed” because it does not represent the current world context of the one when it was created, right after the end of the Second World War.

Lula says he is “committed” to advancing the Mercosur-EU agreement

At the end of the speech in the Portuguese parliament, Lula said that he is committed to advancing the agreement between Mercosur and the European Union, in reference to the negotiation that he recently mentioned as being in the “last adjustments”. And he defended the entry of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries as an observer member of the Ibero-American Conference.

Right after the session in the Assembly of the Republic, Lula went to the Figo Maduro Military Airport to travel to Madrid, Spain, where he will meet this Tuesday (25) with trade union centrals and participate in the closing of the Brazil-Spain Business Forum.

The trip to Portugal lasted five days and had the participation of 21 people in the presidential entourage. In addition to Lula and the first lady, five ministers, three senators, eight deputies and members of the Ministry of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services (MDIC), Embratur and Apex Brasil also traveled.