A delegation of European parliamentarians will travel to Brazil in the coming weeks to show solidarity with the country’s election process. The visit took place a few days before the September 7 actions convened by President Jair Bolsonaro. The trip, organized by Itamaraty, is interpreted as a clear sign that the world is following the events in the country closely and that the left movements and democratic forces will take action in the face of tension in Brazil.
The foreign delegation, who will meet with PT candidate Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva from August 26-29, will meet with civil society and NGOs. The group will be led by Iratxe Garcia Pérez, head of the Socialists and Democrats bloc within the Parliament. The Bank is the second largest bank in the European Legislature, occupying 145 seats.
The delegation will also include Javi Lopez, co-chairman of the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly, as well as Pedro Marques, vice-president of the progressive bloc for Foreign Policy.
Last year, the parliamentary group was responsible for inviting Lula to the European legislature in one of the missions that plagued Bolsonaro’s diplomacy with the treatment given to the former Brazilian president.
Just last year, Iratxe Garcia Pérez publicly expressed her concern about democracy in Brazil. “We convey to President Lula our group’s unconditional support for the return of democracy and dignity to the Brazilian people in next year’s elections,” he said.
“Your struggle is crucial not just for Brazilian democracy, but for all democracies around the world that are threatened by the rise of authoritarianism,” he said.
The visit does not fulfill the function of monitoring the transparency or functioning of the electoral process in Brazil. However, this comes after Planalto Palace’s Supreme Electoral Court rejected the idea of inviting European observers to the October elections.
As UOL announced in July, the Brazilian elections in 2022 present an unprecedented element: the involvement of international actors supporting both the left and President Jair Bolsonaro.
In recent months, far-right movements around the world have started sending delegations and some key figures to dialogue with the Brazilian ruler’s representatives. The concern is that Bolsonaro’s eventual defeat will weaken the movement’s ability to influence the international diplomatic agenda.
Last week, a group of representatives from Brazilian civil society met with US lawmakers and senators, again in the context of the country’s elections. Once again, the strangers’ tone was alarming.
“What I’ve heard from the delegation is unfortunately all too familiar to me because of the efforts of (Donald) Trump and his friends to undermine American democracy. It doesn’t surprise me that Bolsonaro is trying to do the same in Brazil,” Senator Bernie Sanders told the Vermont state democratic civil society delegation.
“We hope that the outcome of the elections will be really good” [brasileiras] it must be recognized and respected, and democracy really reigns in Brazil,” added the senator.
source: Noticias
[author_name]
