EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has backed the new Brazilian head of state Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva after supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro stormed the government district in Brasília.
“The EU condemns the anti-democratic acts of violence that took place in the heart of the government district of Brasília on Sunday 8 January,” Borrell said last night. The EU reiterated its full support to President Lula and expressed its solidarity with the democratic institutions that had been targeted in this attack. “Brazilian democracy will triumph over violence and extremism,” it said.
Brazil’s political leaders, above all ex-President Bolsonaro, must “act responsibly and ask their supporters to go home,” warned the EU foreign policy chief. The right place to resolve political differences is in Brazil’s democratic institutions and not in the violence in the streets.
Macron, Sanchez and Meloni condemn what happened
Heads of state and government from several EU countries also backed Lula. French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted in Portuguese that evening: “The will of the Brazilian people and the democratic institutions must be respected!” Lula can count on France’s unconditional support.
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called for “an immediate return to democratic normality” in Brazil on Twitter.
Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also tweeted Italy’s “solidarity with the Brazilian institutions” and emphasized: “What is happening in Brazil cannot leave us indifferent.”
Klingbeil: “We democrats stand together”
In Germany, Social Democrat Lars Klingbeil, among others, commented on the incidents. “On behalf of the SPD, I strongly condemn the attacks on Brazil’s democratic institutions,” wrote the SPD national chairman on Twitter. “We have full solidarity with President Lula, our sister party PT and the Democrats in Brazil! We Democrats stand together,” the tweet continued. Klingbeil repeated the same statement in the Portuguese tweet.
A week after the end of the term of office of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, radical supporters stormed the government district in the Brazilian capital Brasília and briefly took control of the country’s most important state powers. They entered the National Congress, the Supreme Court and the government seat, the Palácio do Planalto, and rioted in boardrooms and offices.
It took hours for the security forces to bring the situation back under control. Around 230 suspects were arrested.
