A social-democratic politician who won the election in Germany and could be the country’s next prime minister, Olaf Scholz met with former Brazilian president Lula Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva this Friday (12) in Berlin. Deputy prime minister and finance minister, the German said he was “very satisfied with the meeting”.
“I look forward to continuing our dialogue!” Scholz wrote on Twitter in English this Saturday (13). At the moment, Scholz is leading negotiations for the formation of a government coalition that should have him as the country’s prime minister.
The conversations involve Scholz’s legend, the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the Green Party and the Liberal Democratic Party. The SPD finished the election in first place, with 25.7% of the vote. If the negotiations are successful, Scholz should succeed the conservative Angela Merkel and take charge of Europe’s biggest economy.
Lula appears at the top of the polls to win the 2022 presidential election in Brazil. The PT member said on Friday that he had a “pleasant conversation” with Scholz and that they discussed “the process that is underway for the formation of a new government and the importance of strengthening Brazil-Germany cooperation.”
The meeting lasted about an hour, according to Lula’s advisors. The PT and SPD have maintained ties for decades and Lula maintained friendly relations with historical figures of the German legend such as Willy Brandt, Gerhard Schröder, Johannes Rau and Helmut Schmidt.
Contrast
The meeting and exchanges of pleasantries between Lula and Scholz contrast with a recent incident between the German Social Democratic politician and President Jair Bolsonaro.
In late October, Scholz was ignored by Bolsonaro during a G20 meeting in Rome. On the occasion, during a general reception for all G20 leaders present, Bolsonaro spoke briefly with the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
On the same wheel was Olaf Scholz. Bolsonaro, apparently not knowing who Scholz was, completely ignored the German and didn’t speak to him. Shortly thereafter, while Bolsonaro complained to the Brazilian media and exchanged trite remarks with Erdogan, Scholz turned his back and went to talk to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
The rudeness did not go unnoticed by the press and was used as an example of Bolsonaro’s isolation and erratic behavior during his tour of Italy.
Germany’s relations with Brazil have cooled considerably since 2019, especially because of the dismantling of environmental policies in Brazil. That year, Prime Minister Angela Merkel said she viewed the situation in Brazil under Bolsonaro with “great concern”. In 2020, the German government even admitted that cooperation with the Brazilian federal government in areas such as environmental policy and assistance to indigenous peoples was becoming increasingly difficult.
Tour through the German capital
Lula arrived in Berlin on Thursday (11), starting a European tour that will last until next week and whose objective is to renew relations with prominent European politicians. Lula also intends to offer a contrast with the isolated Jair Bolsonaro, who in three years of government has not built any relevant relationship with the European powers and who stood out more for the attacks he made on the continent’s leaders.
“We started today in Berlin with an intense round of meetings. Another Brazil is possible. And we are going to remind the world of that,” Lula said upon disembarking. The former president also had meetings with other German politicians and trade unionists.
In Berlin, he also met Die Linke (The Left) politicians Gregor Gysi and Heinz Bierbaum. The former is an influential member of the legend and was the last leader of the Unified Socialist Party (SED) of former East Germany. Bierbaum is currently the leader of the Party of the European Left, a grouping of leftist subtitles in the EU.
“Brazilians deserve a better president than the incompetent and dangerous Jair Bolsonaro,” Gysi said after the meeting, in a statement. “We wish Lula success in the presidential elections and, along with others, we will support him as much as we can.”
Lula also met with Martin Schulz, former leader of the German SPD and former president of the European Parliament. Schulz, who ran for prime minister in 2017 but was defeated by Merkel, visited Lula in prison in Curitiba in August 2018.
Lula referred to Schulz after the meeting as “a companion during the most difficult times, to whom I am grateful for having made a point of going to Brazil to visit me when I was imprisoned in Curitiba”. Schulz is currently president of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, linked to the SPD and which is also close to PT’s Perseu Abramo Foundation.
“Lula é a esperança do Brasil para o fim da política de divisão e provocação de Jair Bolsonaro. Foi uma honra encontrá-lo em Berlim”, escreveu Schulz no Twitter sobre o encontro. “Good luck in the coming months!”
Meeting with deputies and union members
On the same day, Lula also met with SPD deputies Yasmin Fahimi and Isabel Cademartori.
Cademartori, 33, is the granddaughter of José Cademartori, the last and brief economics minister of former Chilean President Salvador Allende, who sought refuge in the former East Germany after the 1973 military coup. She is a first-time SPD deputy in the German Parliament (Bundestag ), having been elected in September.
“It is a great honor to meet the former president of Brazil Lula. We talked about his vision of a social and sustainable policy for Brazil that protects natural resources. After the disastrous results of the mini-Trump Bolsonaro, there is much to be done”, wrote Cademartori on Twitter.
Fahimi, on the other hand, has years of experience in the trade union world and has been a federal deputy in Germany since 2017. She is also a member of the Brazil-Germany parliamentary group in the Bundestag. About the meeting, deputy Fahimi said it was “a happiness and an honor” to see Lula “in health and his will to fight for democracy in Brazil.”
Between 2018 and 2019, the German deputy led a campaign in solidarity with Lula and repeatedly criticized the PT’s arrest. “I am grateful for the solidarity they had with me and with the Brazilian people in recent years,” said Lula, after meeting the two deputies.
At the time of the arrest, several figures from the German SPD publicly criticized what they classified as persecution of the PT. This had not even been the first expression of solidarity with Lula by figures from the German Social Democratic Party.
The Social Democrat Helmut Schmidt, who was chancellor of Germany between 1974 and 1982, met Lula in Brazil in 1979, during the military dictatorship, when the Brazilian had been removed from the Metalworkers Union of São Bernardo do Campo and Diadema after the regime intervenes in the organization. Thirty years later, Lula met in Hamburg with Schmidt, who was over 90 at the time, and thanked the former German chancellor for the gesture of decades before.
The former Brazilian president also had meetings in Berlin with German union figures, including Reiner Hoffmann, president of the influential German Trade Union Confederation (DGB); Michael Vassiliadis, president of the Union of Mines, Chemistry and Energy (IG BCE); Frank Werneke, president of the United Services Union (ver.di); and Christiane Bonner, co-president of IG Metall, the largest union of workers in the industry across Europe and which maintains ties with CUT and the ABC Metalworkers Union.
On Monday (15), in Brussels, Lula will participate in a meeting in the plenary of the European Parliament, at the invitation of the social-democratic bloc of the House. On Tuesday (16), he will head to Paris, where he will give a lecture during a conference on Brazil at the Institute of Political Studies in Paris (Sciences Po). The conference “What is Brazil’s place in the world of tomorrow?” it takes place to mark the tenth anniversary of the title of doctor honoris causa that Lula received from the institute.
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