Italian President Sergio Mattarella comes to Brazil and will meet with Lula

Sergio Mattarella, President of Italy, arrived in Brazil on Sunday night (14) and will remain in the country for the next five days. During this trip, he will meet with President Lula on Monday (15), in Brasília, and then continue on to an agenda where the highlights are the celebration of the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the first Italian immigrants in Brazil, a meeting with the governor of Rio Grande do Sul, Eduardo Leite, and talks about two groups, the G20, a group of the 20 largest economies in the world, currently chaired by Brazil, and the G7, a group of the richest countries in the world, which is being chaired by Italy.

The meeting with Lula on Monday (15) will be at the Planalto Palace at around 11 am, where the reform of governance institutions in the world and issues of regional and global interest will be discussed. After the meeting, according to the Itamaraty, a lunch will be offered to the Italian president.

Visit after two decades

The last official visit by an Italian president took place 24 years ago and now Mattarella arrives in the country to fulfill an agenda where he must sign some agreements with Brazil.

The office of president in Italy differs from that of Brazil, with limited powers. The president does not participate directly in the government, but can sanction or oppose laws and decrees, call elections and confirm the appointment of a prime minister. Mattarella has held the office for five years and the Italians currently have Giorgia Meloni, a far-right politician, as their prime minister.

Travel themes

In addition to signing agreements with Brazil, Sergio Mattarella will be celebrating 150 years of Italian immigration to the country, discussing topics such as climate change, its consequences and global actions to reduce the impact, energy transition and the taxation of the super-rich worldwide, a Brazilian proposal that will be raised at the G20 meeting in November in Rio de Janeiro.

Busy schedule

President Sergio Marttella will have a busy schedule during the five days he will be in Brazil. In addition to the meeting with Lula in Brasilia, he will be in a different state each day during the week.

This Monday (15) he will be in Brasília with Lula and then he will travel in the next few days to Rio Grande do Sul, where he will meet with Governor Eduardo Leite, then he will go to São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and end his trip in Salvador.

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_{The Italian president will meet with Lula in Brasilia (Photo: reproduction/Getty Images Embed/Domenico Cippitelli/NurPhoto)}

Attempt at rapprochement

The trip represents a rapprochement between Brazil and Italy. Since the end of the first decade of the century, the two countries have faced tensions, mainly due to the extradition case of the criminal Cesare Battisti and divergent opinions on the wars in the Gaza Strip and Ukraine.

Another issue that has distanced Brazil and Italy is the process of Italian citizenship granted to Brazilians descended from immigrants, where reports of irregularities during the issue have generated complaints from mayors of cities in the European country.

Since the Italian president has limitations on his power, this rapprochement is more symbolic than effective. Only Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni could have the final say on several issues that will be discussed in the coming days, including the taxation of the super rich, which Giorgia does not support the Brazilian proposal.

Featured Photo: Sergio Mattarella, Italian President, will stay in Brazil for five days (Reproduction/Getty Images Embed/ Riccardo De Luca/Anadolu)