On the sidelines of the second forum for the future of taxation in Lisbon, organized by the Brazil Europa Integration Forum, the Minister (Judge) of the Federal Supreme Court of Brazil (STF) Gilmar Mendes spoke with CNN Portugal about migrations, the Portugal-Brazil relationship and the problem of populism. It does not reject that Brazil assumes a policy of reciprocity regarding the law of foreigners, after the changes approved by the Assembly of the Republic. But it says it is better to talk more about this subject
Portugal has adopted changes to the law of foreigners who affect the interests of the Brazilian community, and Brazilians still looking for a better future in Europe can suffer from the consequences. Do you think Brazil can or should adopt a reciprocity?
I think there must be a dialogue, first of all. Although, as we know, we have a very defendant constitutional treatment towards the Portuguese in Brazil, even allowing that there is that idea of double citizenship and I hope this will be matched. From the information I have, the most problematic is the non -functioning of the administrative bodies. Perhaps even by a disorganized and chaotic character of immigration services. This is worrying and it must be readily repaired. I would draw attention to a case that I referred to as the same person received a deportation note and another note in how their records were in order. People are very fearful because of this and I think it is important to resolve this so that there is no tumult in a relationship that is so peaceful. We have so many Portuguese and such a beautiful story together.
And there are many documented cases of xenophobia suffered by Brazilian and Luso-Brazilian citizens here in Portugal. Do you think there is a lack of national political will to appease the situation?
Surely we must translate this theme [xenofobia] to the Portuguese authorities. And I think that the Brazilian authorities should be informed about this and translate this discomfort to the authorities in Portugal.
We have gone through a moment of technological populism that seems to shake the foundations of the most solid democracies on the planet. Do you believe that the conviction of Jair Bolsonaro was a lesson of independence from Brazil?
I think Brazilian democracy came out stronger in this episode. If we look at some coup attempts or even scams we had throughout republican history, let’s see that there were no effective answers to this kind of practice. This is the first time an author of an attempt to coup and its associates have been penalized. And this is extremely relevant. It was recognized by the great communication bodies around the world. It is an extremely relevant fact. I think Brazil gave the world a lesson, as there is this phenomenon in the whole world we call it ‘democratic recession’. The setback of several democracies, I say. But Brazilian institutions proved how extremely resilient were and how it was possible to overcome this challenge.
Portugal has elections soon and the populist right can have good results. Without wanting to ask you to do future, I ask you if you fear Portugal to go through situations similar to those in Brazil, with Bolsonaro, or the United States, with Donald Trump?
I can say that I hope that episodes like those we live in lesson to voters from various friendly nations of the world. And I hope you know how to make the proper choices to prevent us from having threats or that there are embarrassment to democratic practices.