Relief: this is the word that best describes the overwhelming majority feeling among leaders, politicians and also in the European media and in other parts of the world in the face of the result of the Brazilian presidential election, with the victory of Luís Inácio Lula da Silva and the defeat of Jair Messiah Bolsonaro.

The victory was close, but the relief was immense. He expressed himself in the immediate international recognition of Lula’s victory, with demonstrations from all political stripes, from Emmanuel Macron, from France, to Joe Bidenfrom the United States, the leftist Alberto Hernandez, from Argentina, the ultra-right Giorgia Meloni, from Italy, via the conservative Rishi Sunak, from the United Kingdom and the socialists António Costa and Pedro Sánchez, respectively from Portugal and Spain, as well as Josep Borrell, in charge of Foreign Affairs of the European Union.

From Canada to Patagonia, from the shores of the Atlantic to the islands and coasts of the Pacific, from the Arctic Ocean to the southern tip of Africa, enthusiastic messages have circulated about the exploit of Lula, who, a few years, seemed condemned to ostracism and is now preparing the triumphal departure of Brazil from the geopolitical isolation to which the disastrous foreign policy of the Bolsonaro government condemned it.

Norway and Germany have announced their willingness to resume their participation in the financing of the Amazon Fundwhich had been suspended since the dismantling of controls on the deforestation of the forest and other Brazilian biomes, promoted by the current government.

Full COP27 agenda

Lula didn’t even take officeand is already a guest star at COP27, which takes place in the city of Sharm el-Sheikh, at the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt. Lula arrives this week at the climate conference accompanied by his wife, sociologist Rosângela Lula da Silva, from Janja, former Chancellor Celso Amorim, quoted as special adviser to the Presidency of the Republic, and former Minister of Education Fernando Haddad, envisaged as the new Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Lula’s schedule will be heavy and tight. It already includes participation in at least three public forums and ten bilateral meetings with country representatives or heads of international organizations, including UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Egyptian President General Abdul Fatah al- Sisi, World Bank President David Malpass and Chinese Special Envoy Xien Zhenhua.

There is a strong expectation that Lula leads the global articulation of financial aid from the richest countries to the most climate-vulnerable nationsin addition to forming a front to protect tropical forests with Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, holders, like Brazil, of more than half of these forests in the world.

However, positive expectations of the future government are not limited to the core of the environmental agenda. The outgoing government’s foreign policy, which can be described as “erratic and convulsive”, has seriously compromised the reputed prestige of Brazilian diplomacy. It is hoped that the future Lula government will restore this prestige, returning Brazil to the position of Third World leader in international forums, such as the G-20 and the UN Commission on Human Rights.

Featured in European media

Finally, it should be noted that although the mainstream media in Europe tends to view leftist leaders in Latin America with some skepticism, Lula’s victory had strong repercussions in the European media. I will give you an example: the day after the election of the former president, his portrait was on the cover of the most diverse newspapers in all the kiosks of Berlin.

It is, at bottom, a question of credibility and decorum of the office. Lula should restore confidence in the behavior of the government, even with those who disagree with him. At the same time, it must constitute a point of balance in Brazil, as well as with respect to all of Latin America, Africa and the other continents, in addition to avoiding the embarrassment caused by the current president. Jair Bolsonarolike stepping on the toes of then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel or dishing out friendly smiles and hugs at a recent Queen’s funeral in the UK.