Lisbon (EFE).- The President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, today hastened an intense agenda on the first day of his official visit to Portugal, with meetings with the Portuguese Head of State and the Prime Minister and a bilateral summit.
Lula kicked off the day with official ceremonies and a meeting with the Portuguese president, the conservative Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, at the Belem Palace, where dozens of supporters of the leader of the Workers’ Party (PT) were waiting to express their support.
The program will continue with a lunch with the prime minister, the socialist António Costa, prior to a bilateral summit that will make it possible to sign more than a dozen agreements and consolidate the shift in relations between the two countries after the distancing between Lisbon and Brasilia during the stage by Jair Bolsonaro.
On the agenda, migration issues -Brazilian is the largest foreign community in Portugal, with more than 200,000 people-, trade agreements and the treaty between the EU and Mercosur.
Division of the Portuguese parties for the visit
Lula’s visit, which coincides with the 49th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution, has divided the Portuguese parties on the eve of the celebrations over the possibility, already ruled out, of him participating in the official acts for April 25.
However, the extreme right has announced a demonstration in front of Parliament on Tuesday, while Lula participates in a recognition ceremony on the sidelines of the commemorations of the Revolution.
The statements made by Lula about the war in Ukraine on the eve of his visit to Portugal -when he stated that Europe and the United States contribute to the continuation of this war by sending weapons- fueled the controversy between the Portuguese parties.
This Friday, the Minister of the Presidency, Márcio Macedo, attributed the controversy to a “misunderstanding” and announced that Lula will send his adviser on international issues, former Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, to visit Ukraine.
Macedo received a delegation from the Ukrainian community in Lisbon, which conveyed its rejection of the comments by the President of Brazil.
Lula will conclude his visit to Portugal on Tuesday the 25th and will travel to Spain before returning to Brazil.
The president has chosen Portugal and Spain as the first destinations he visits in Europe in his new term due to the close cultural and political ties that unite Brazil with both countries.