You won’t believe what’s really going on behind closed doors – why the ministries’ approval won’t save Lula’s reputation in Congress!

The approval of the provisional measure that provides for the structuring of ministries (MPV 1154/2023) by the plenary session of the Chamber of Deputies, on the eve of losing validity of the matter and with significant modifications in relation to the original text, brought relief to the Palace of Planalto, but it cannot be seen as a show of government force in parliament.

Despite the elastic score built, 337 votes in favor, 125 against and 1 abstention, the various expressions of discontent of the deputies with the political articulation of the government show a perception of difficult days for President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT). in National Congress.

To unblock the MPV vote and prevent the structure of the Esplanada dos Ministérios from returning to the molds of the government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL), Lula had to personally enter into the negotiations. In parallel, the government accelerated the release of BRL 1.7 billion in parliamentary amendments, the largest amount released in a single day under the current administration. But it was not enough to calm the spirits of the congressmen.

Shortly after the plenary session, in the early hours of this Thursday (1), the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), indicated that the approval of the matter was mainly due to the attitude of the leaders of the independent parties, which “recognized the need to give the government another chance” amid the obstacles in the dialogue with parliament.

In an interview with journalists, Lira gave his message about how the relations between the Executive and the Legislature will be in the upcoming votes: “It is important to say and make it clear that, from now on, the government will have to walk with its legs. There will be no more sacrifices of any kind.

The speech is a warning to the Planalto Palace that more efforts will be needed for the success of issues such as tax reform, which, because it is a Constitutional Amendment Proposal (PEC), depends on the support of 3/5 of the deputies in two voting shifts – and the bill that deals with the resumption of the so-called “quality vote” in favor of the Union in the judgments of the Administrative Council for Fiscal Appeals (Carf).

Earlier, Lira said that there was “general discontent” among the deputies with what he called “the lack of political articulation of the government.” Addressing the fragility of Lula’s support base in the legislative house, the deputy said that the government currently has only 130 “constant” votes out of a universe of 513 in the plenary, which is equivalent to just over 25% of the total. .

“I have been warning the government of this starvation, this lack of action, this lack of pragmatism in solving day-to-day problems, the lack of consideration, the lack of attention, the lack of attention,” he said.

In yesterday’s vote, the “centre” parties with ministries in the current government made an important contribution to the result. Legends such as MDB, PSD and União Brasil gave, respectively, 35, 36 and 35 votes in favor of the text out of 42, 42 and 59 possible.

The conduct was the opposite of that adopted in the vote on the draft legislative decree to overthrow sections of the device edited by the government for basic sanitation, the same acronyms delivered 31, 20 and 48 votes against the Executive. But lawmakers argue that this is far from a long-term peacemaking gesture.

During yesterday’s session, one of the speeches that stood out the most was that of federal representative Elmar Nascimento (BA), leader of the União Brasil bench in the legislative house. In a speech from the rostrum, the deputy recognized Lula’s legitimacy in organizing his ministries according to his preferences, but highlighted the problems of articulation with the Chamber and said that the messages of the deputies were not being listened to with due attention.

“It is obvious that any legitimately elected government has the right to establish its way of governing. This is very clear. And then one wonders why we spend so much time, in the last hour, in the last minute, still discussing whether or not we are going to support what a legitimately elected government has the right to do, which is to stipulate the way to govern. . All this is the result of a contradictory and ungovernable way of proceeding. The lack of a stabilized base allowed this Chamber to give a political response to the lack of a more concrete articulation and security, ”he said.

“Messages have been given day after day, article after article. First, this Chamber took a very firm position in relation to the sanitation decree, stating that it would not accept that the Government, by means of a decree, revoke what was built here by a law approved with more than 300 votes. And the government tried to understand what was happening in the Chamber of Deputies? He did not try to understand, he preferred to go to the other side, to the Federal Senate, to block the advance of the decree and paralyze the process there. Then came the deadline, which Your Excellency agreed to include on the agenda and which we voted on yesterday. Another message was given. And all the messages are given successively, ”he continued.

The parliamentarian pointed out that the Government could have been defeated in plenary if the provisional measure had been voted on a day earlier. He also said that there was little will on the União Brasil bench to vote according to the Planalto Palace’s guidance on the issue yesterday, but the party’s parliamentarians decided to assume that position in a gesture towards him, who said he had asked for one last gesture.

The critical evaluation in relation to the work of political articulation undertaken by the government even extended to the deputies of the PT, acronym for Lula. The leader of the bench in the legislative house, Zeca Dirceu (PR), affirmed that the lack of speed and predictability in the decisions of the Executive Branch has harmed the relationship with the National Congress.

“The federal government has made decisions that are exactly in line with what the Chamber of Deputies and the leaders want. The problem is that there is no speed, breadth and predictability for these decisions to happen, ”he said in an interview with CNN Brazil.

Dirceu affirmed that the Government is aware of the discontent of the deputies and that this week’s criticisms are a “turning point” so that relations with the Legislature are more appropriate from now on.

He also said that the problems in the negotiations with Parliament possibly derive from the difficulties that the government has encountered in the nominations for positions and the lack of communication between parts of the Executive branch with Congress.

“There is great discontent with the measures that are announced without even informing the Chamber of Deputies,” he said.

Despite the criticism, Dirceu defended the team of ministers in the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as “qualified and experienced” and affirmed that Minister Alexandre Padilha (PT), from the Institutional Relations Secretariat, is “the best person ” for political articulation with the National Congress.

(with Reuters)

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