On Thursday, during a hearing in the Chamber of Deputies, the foreign minister of Giorgia Meloni’s government, Antonio Tajani, commented on the assault on Brazilian institutions carried out last Sunday by thousands of supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro in Brasilia, the capital of Brazil. Tajani wanted to highlight the efforts and importance of Italian diplomacy, and to show how much it was appreciated by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva he said:
the reaction (from the Italian government) was also greatly appreciated by President Lula himself, who was one of the first to like my statements.
Tajani was probably referring to the tweet which he himself published on the evening of the assault on the seat of parliament, the Supreme Court and the presidential office in Brasilia: the minister had condemned the incident “with great firmness”.
Tajani reiterated this also on Thursday at the hearing in the Chamber: in a very serious tone, he explained that the “firm condemnation” expressed by Italy wanted to send a very clear signal on what the international community considered “unacceptable” – a word that Tajani marked slowness – the attack on the institutions «of one of the largest democracies in the world». Tajani explained that he also reacted by coordinating with other European governments, in the belief that it was important to send a collective and not just a national signal.
The comment on Lula’s like to his tweet came right at the end of this passage: with an equally serious tone and lifting his eyes from his papers for a moment, Tajani cited the episode to demonstrate his appreciation of the Italian part of the Brazilian president. He then continued his speech citing the strong ties between Italy and Brazil and retracing the fundamental moments of Sunday’s assault.
