The European Parliament condemned this Thursday (19) the coup attacks on the headquarters of the Three Powers, in Brasília, carried out by supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro on January 8.
In a resolution approved by 319 votes, representatives of the European Union (EU) expressed solidarity with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) and with Brazilian institutions. The text was rejected by 46 parliamentarians; another 74 abstained.
MEPs welcome efforts to “ensure a prompt and impartial investigation” to identify and prosecute those involved. The resolution also praises the performance of the STF (Federal Supreme Court) in approving that Bolsonaro be included in the investigation that investigates the instigation and intellectual authorship of the attacks.
The text, proposed by German MEP Anna Cavazzini, deputy director of the Parliament’s delegation to Brazil, says that events like the one in Brasília, in addition to the invasion of the Capitol in the US and the arrest of extremists who planned a coup d’état in Germany, they are linked to a transnational fascism, racism and extremism.
MEPs also argued that it is important to regulate online platforms to prevent the proliferation of misinformation and hate speech on networks. “I am particularly concerned about the role that social media played in promoting aggressive and false rhetoric about fraud in the October election,” Cavazzini said in a statement prior to the resolution.
“The European Parliament supports the efforts for a wide investigation at all levels to shed light on the omissions of state institutions that failed to prevent the attacks”, continued the German.
EU leaders had already demonstrated against the scenes in Brasília shortly after the episode, such as the Frenchman Emmanuel Macron, who offered help to Lula and said that the will of the Brazilian people and democratic institutions must be respected.
Under Bolsonaro, Brazil’s diplomatic relations with the European bloc were weakened, especially due to the advance of deforestation and the recurrent authorizations for the practice of illegal mining in areas of preservation and indigenous peoples in the country.
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