One day before a meeting with other progressive leaders, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) spoke about digital regulation to prevent interference by other countries in Brazil’s elections and was self-critical about the advance of extremism in the world.
“We now need to regulate everything digital, so that we give sovereignty to our country, and that we do not even allow interference from outside, especially in an election year”, said the president after a bilateral meeting with the Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchezin Barcelona.
“It is not possible for you to treat as normal and as freedom of expression the industry of lies, verbal violence, misinformation, as has been happening on the planet”, said the PT member after being asked about the intention to European countries to establish a minimum age for the use of social networks.
Lula stated that he will work hard on regulation “to prevent platforms from causing any damage to democracy, sovereignty and people’s happiness.”
This Saturday (17), Brazilian and Spanish leaders will meet with a dozen progressive heads of state who intend to confront the global right-wing wave. It will be the fourth meeting of the so-called Democracy Forever Forum, created by the two in 2024.
The list of confirmed candidates includes presidents Claudia Sheinbaum (Mexico), Gustavo Petro (Colombia), Yamandú Orsi (Uruguay) and Cyril Ramaphosa (South Africa). Europeans also include the Vice Chancellor of Germany (Lars Klingbeil) and the Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (David Lammy).
The fight against disinformation is one of the three axes of the event, along with multilateralism and inequalities.
Lula also made a mea culpa: “I want to know where we failed as democrats. Where democratic institutions stopped working. (…) The UN (United Nations) today is very weakened. The nations that created the UN do not respect the UN.”
”I have this concern (…) Where is our speech wrong? Where are our public policies not meeting the expectations of young people who want a new world of work?”, added the president.
After Spain, Lula will head to Germany, where he will participate in the Hannover Industrial Fair, and Portugal, where he will meet Prime Minister Luís Montenegro and the new President António José Seguro. He returns to Brazil next Tuesday (21).
Among the 11 ministers who are part of the delegation are Mauro Vieira (Foreign Affairs), Dario Durigan (Finance), Alexandre Silveira (Mines and Energy), João Paulo Capobianco (Environment) and Margareth Menezes (Culture).
Also present are the president of BNDES (National Bank for Economic and Social Development), Aloizio Mercadante, the general director of the Federal Police, Andrei Rodrigues, and the president of Fiocruz, Mario Moreira.
