Lula travels to Europe this Wednesday for ILO and G7 meetings

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) will embark this Wednesday afternoon (June 12, 2024) for Europe. In Geneva, Switzerland, the head of the Brazilian Executive will participate in meetings of the ILO (International Labor Organization). In Borgo Egnazia, in the Puglia region of Italy, he will go to the G7 summit and hold bilateral meetings.

Lula’s departure is scheduled for 3pm Brasília time. His first appointment will be the following day, Thursday (June 13), when he will attend the Inaugural Forum of the Coalition for Social Justice, promoted by the ILO. The event in Switzerland will deal with “tackling social inequalities, implementing labor rights integrated with human rights, expanding capacity and access to productive means and promoting decent work”, according to Palácio do Planalto.

This year, Brazil will be co-president of the conference alongside the ILO director-general, Gilbert Houngbo. 3 forums will be held:

• “Building society’s resilience”;
• “Improve the coherence of economic and social policies”; It is
• “Promote social dialogue for shared prosperity”.

G7

On the same day, Lula will head to Puglia, host of the G7 summit – a group formed by 7 of the largest economies in the world (United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the European Union). The event will take place from Thursday (June 13th) to Saturday (June 15th).

At 1 pm on Friday (June 14), the president will give a speech at the block’s substantive session. The themes of the session will be: artificial intelligence, energy and Africa and the Mediterranean. Pope Francis will speak about artificial intelligence and energy, while African Union President Ould Ghazouani will address Africa and the Mediterranean.

The expectation is that Lula will speak about Brazil’s presidency of the G20 (group of the 20 largest economies in the world), the Global Alliance against Hunger and taxation of the super-rich.

In addition to Brazil, leaders from South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, India, Mauritania (as president of the African Union), Nigeria, Kenya, Tunisia and Turkey should be present at the G7 summit. .

Directors of international organizations will also attend, such as: UN (United Nations), IMF (International Monetary Fund), World Bank, African Development Bank and OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development).

Lula goes to the G7 at the invitation of the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni. This is the 8th time he has been invited to the summit since 2003. He attended the meeting last year, held in Hiroshima, Japan.

BILATERAL MEETINGS

Lula will have at least 5 bilateral meetings in Italy. According to the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the PT member will meet with:

• Emmanuel Macron, President of France;
• Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India;
• Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa;
• Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission; It is
• Pope Francisco.

ELECTIONS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

This is the first time that Lula goes to Europe this year. The trip takes place at a time when the right is advancing in the European Union, which emerged as the big winner in the elections for the European Parliament, which ended on Sunday (June 9). With the new composition, right-wing and center-right deputies will be 395 of the total 720, a dominance of 54.9%.

Read more: