Haddad reacts to Lula saying he is not a "leftist": "He is pragmatic"

Former Finance Minister Fernando Haddad reacted this Wednesday (17) to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's (PT) statement that he was never a "leftist" and stated that the president has a "pragmatic" stance.

"When they asked him if he was a communist once, I think it was Silvio Santos who asked the question, he said: 'I'm a turner'. Lula has these jokes because he has a very pragmatic stance", said Haddad during an event at PUC.

According to Haddad, the president avoids ideological labels and prioritizes concrete results.

"Labels don't work very well for him, precisely because what he seeks is results. He wants to improve people's quality of life, he wants wages to increase, he wants the negotiation between capital and labor to take into account the vulnerability of workers in this relationship, the asymmetries of modern society", he stated.

Earlier, during the G7 meeting, Lula said he never defined himself as a "leftist". The president responded to a question about his political image when he was first elected in 2002.

"But I was never a leftist. I was a union leader who had a wonderful relationship with German unionism, I had a good relationship with Italian unionism. I had a relationship with the UGT (General Union of Workers), in Spain", he stated.

Afterwards, Lula said that, in the 1980s, he was invited to participate in a congress in the then Soviet Union, but said he ended up being seen as "anti-communist".

"In 1980, I had a conference in Russia to which I was invited. I didn't go because I was condemned by the National Security Law. I went on a trip around Europe to raise solidarity. And then I started to be treated as an anti-communist", he added.

Lula tells authorities at the G7 that he "was never a leftist" | H TIME

Source: CNN