São Paulo, July 11, 2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - Yesterday (10), the ex-President of Portugal, Mário Soares, said that Portugal is giving a warm reception to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who will remain in Portugal until Saturday.

Lula is greatly admired in Europe for his development proposals and "because he is trying to carve out a path of solidarity and justice in a world without regulation, dominated by cut-throat globalization, and this is an interesting path for European countries to support," Soares said in an interview with Radiobrás's Brazil Magazine program.

According to Soares, who is currently a Deputy in the European Parliament, to consolidate greater integration between Brazil and the European Union, Lula ought to go to the European Parliament, converse with its president, Romano Prodi, and reach understandings with leaders of the European Union. In his view, Europe will derive benefits from the strengthening of trade relations with Brazil and the other Mercosur countries. For Soares, the European agricultural policy, which bars Third World products, is "stupid."

Soares was also emphatic in backing the need for Portugal to make it easier for Brazilians who already live in Portugal to legalize their status as residents. Many Brazilians have faced difficulties in obtaining this document due to security measures imposed in Portugal following the attacks of September 11, 2001, in the United States. (DAS)