Foreign minister says Lula’s statements do not embarrass Portugal

On Monday, the foreign minister said that Portugal’s position on the Russian invasion of Ukraine was clear and that the Brazilian president’s statements about the conflict did not embarrass Portugal.

“It’s not embarrassing at all. How can we be embarrassed by someone else’s position? We could be embarrassed by our own position. But our position is clear,” Gomez Cravinho said, adding that the Brazilian head of state’s statements are not surprising.

“The conclusion that the foreign policy of Portugal and the foreign policy of Brazil are not identical does not surprise anyone,” said the foreign minister.

When asked whether it makes sense to consider possible changes in the program of Lula da Silva’s visit, namely in the official ceremonies on April 25 – taking into account the way the President of Brazil expressed his position on the conflict in Ukraine – the Minister of Foreign Affairs stated that “Portuguese foreign policy incompatible with positions” of a politically biased nature.

“We have a foreign policy that is national. We have a very important tradition of rapprochement between the main parties in matters of foreign policy, and we are not going to allow this tradition to be violated by issues of an opportunistic political-party nature,” said Gomez Cravinho.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said Saturday after a visit to the People’s Republic of China that the United States should stop “promoting war” in Ukraine and the European Union should “start talking about peace.”

“The United States should stop encouraging war and start talking about peace, the European Union should start talking about peace,” the Brazilian head of state told reporters in Beijing before leaving for the United Arab Emirates.

It is necessary for the Portuguese foreign minister to “not confuse” between what constitutes relations between states, referring to Portugal and Brazil, emphasizing that “this is a deep relationship” with “200 years” and that they have already gone through “huge moments great variety and what is the current conjuncture.

Gomes Cravinho stressed that Portugal’s position on the war in Ukraine “leaves no room for ambiguity”, acknowledging that issues related to the invasion of Russia will be decided with the Brazilian head of state.

“Portuguese position [sobre a Ucrânia] very clear and about the position of the President of Brazil, we will definitely have the opportunity to hear President Lulu in the proper context: at a meeting with the President of the Republic (Marcelo Rebelo de Souza), at a meeting with the Prime Minister [António Costa] and in numerous moments of his visit, and we do not make any drama out of it,” said Gomes Cravinho.

Regarding the possible trip of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to Portugal, the Minister of Foreign Affairs said that he officially did not have any information, stressing that, from a protocol point of view, the Portuguese state had no obligations towards the former heads of state.

“The Portuguese State has no obligations towards the President of the Republic in the previous circumstances. I have no information about the arrival of former President Bolsonaro, other than what was revealed in the media,” said Joao Gomes Cravinho.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs spoke to reporters on the sidelines of the opening of the Portugal-Germany forum, the theme of which is “Digitalization: a global and bilateral perspective”.

The meeting will take place today at the Institute of Economics and Management (ISEG) in Lisbon and will be attended by Anna Luhrmann, Minister for European Affairs and Climate of the German Executive.