Chamber approves Esplanada MP after walling Lula – 05/31/2023 – Power

The Chamber of Deputies approved this Wednesday (31) the basic text of the MP (provisional measure) that restructures the government and avoided President Lula’s (PT) biggest defeat in Parliament so far.

The vote took place hours before the proposal lost its validity and shortly after the mayor, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), walled up the Planalto and fired harsh criticism against the government’s political articulation.

By 337 votes to 125 against (and one abstention), the plenary of the Chamber approved the basic text of the MP (provisional measure) that increased the number of ministries to 37. After voting on highlights, which can still change their content, the text will need to be approved by the Senate this Thursday (1st) so as not to lose validity.

At the beginning of the session there was an attempt to remove the matter from the agenda – but the request was defeated by 337 votes to 130.

President Lula launched his last cards to try to overcome the crisis this week, when leaders indicated that the MP could be defeated in plenary. The Planalto Palace made promises to speed up the release of amendments and appointments to positions in the face of pressure from the centrão for more space in the government.

Now, the government’s challenge is to avoid, in the voting for the highlights, defeats in parts of the proposal that could generate a new emptying of folders occupied by PT members or ministers of Lula’s personal quota.

Among the highlights that will still be voted on, there is an attempt by the PL to overthrow the creation of the Ministry of Agrarian Development, commanded by Minister Paulo Teixeira (PT).

Another highlight of the PL takes away even more power from Marina Silva (Environment). If the party’s proposal is approved, the minister will lose the shared management of fishing resources and articulation with the Ministry of Fisheries.

Hours before the vote in the plenary of the Chamber, the climate was still of high risk for Lula, who, in the face of the worst moment in the relationship with the Chamber, could suffer a historic political setback – which would force the PT to redo the entire structure of the government with only five months in office.

Any rejection of the MP that gives the face of the government would result in the return of the format of the Esplanade of Ministries under the administration of Jair Bolsonaro (PL), with the end of portfolios such as Planning, Development and Industry, Indigenous Peoples, Agrarian Development, Transport, Culture and Racial equality.

Centrão leaders spoke of giving the government one last chance to change the political articulation. In the words of one leader, this is “the government’s last straw”.

The Planalto Palace sought this Tuesday (30) and Wednesday to provide a quick response to the dissatisfaction of the group led by Lira.

The government operation involved a phone call from Lula to Lira. early this Wednesday morning. In the conversation, the deputy presented an overview of the widespread dissatisfaction in the Chamber and Lula made an appeal for the MP to be voted.

There was an expectation that they would meet in the afternoon in person. But, later, Planalto and the Chamber began to minimize this and say that the meeting had not been scheduled.

There was also the record release of amendments in this government (R$ 1.7 billion in a single day) and the order in the Planalto to open the box and pour resources for these transfers.

On another front, there is the promise to unlock political nominations for positions in the second and third echelon of the federal government.

Lula’s gestures had not yet generated the effect expected by the Planalto until the beginning of this Wednesday night. But Lula’s interlocutors once again appealed for the structure of the ministries to be maintained.

Centrão leaders changed positions throughout the night. The assessment was that, if the structure of the Executive were overthrown, the Chamber would be left with the image of disrupting the progress of public policies to try to get more attention from the government.

“Messages are being given day by day [como na votação contra decretos do Marco do Saneamento]. […] Did the government try to understand what was happening in the Chamber of Deputies? He didn’t try to understand. He preferred to go the other way, over there in the Senate”, said the leader of União Brasil, Elmar Nascimento (BA), in a speech from the pulpit of the plenary.

In his speech, Elmar praised the leader of the government in the Chamber, José Guimarães (PT-CE). The petista met with deputies to try to avoid Lula’s defeat. Walled in meetings with party leaders, Guimarães acted as a firefighter in the crisis.

Lira, earlier, had praised Guimarães, stating that he has acted as a “brave hero”. “If [o resultado da votação da MP] is positive, all laurels to government leader José Guimarães who has been a brave hero fighting for things to happen. If it is negative, it is the government’s fault in general,” said Lira.

On the other hand, criticism grew against Minister Alexandre Padilha (Institutional Relations), responsible for the political articulation of the government – ​​a wing of the centrão, however, spares Padilha from the obstacles in articulation, as it would be a generalized crisis caused by the government. Even some PT supporters believe that, given the wear and tear for this Wednesday’s vote, Padilha should not last long in office.

Another target of the House is Minister Rui Costa (Casa Civil). He is blamed for amendments and stalled positions, as well as a lack of political savvy.

Allies of Rui, however, claim that the minister is not responsible for the relationship with Congress, and has incorporated a more technical profile to the Civil House. The folder denies that it has stopped the release of resources and nominations.

Planalto also assesses that a clash between Lira and Senator Renan Calheiros (MDB-AL), Lula’s ally, would generate wear and tear and harm the PT’s situation in the Chamber.

On Twitter, the senator called Lira a deadbeat, accused him of embezzling money and also of having beaten his ex-wife Julyenne Lins. The president of the Chamber sent a message to Planalto that he considered the declarations of the senator from Lula’s base to be inadmissible and that the government was being lenient in keeping his son, Renan Filho (MDB), at the head of the Ministry of Transport.

The MP for the Esplanada was edited right at the beginning of the administration. It was approved by a special commission last week, but the text modified the structure originally proposed by Lula.

Deputies dehydrated the Ministry of the Environment, commanded by Marina Silva, and removed from Sonia Guajajara (Indigenous Peoples) the function of dealing with the demarcation of indigenous lands. The attribution was sent to the Ministry of Justice, by Flávio Dino (PSB).

The approved report withdrew the National Water Agency (ANA) from the Environment and transferred it to Regional Development —a folder headed by Waldez Góes (PDT), appointed by parliamentarians from União Brasil.

The CAR (Rural Environmental Registry), an instrument to control private lands and conflicts in preservation areas, also left the ministry headed by Marina for Management and Innovation in Public Services, headed by Esther Dweck.

Marina’s weakening led Lula to instruct his ministers to adopt a rhetoric in defense of the minister.

Rui Costa, Minister of the Civil House, said last week that the text of the MP was “out of line” with the government’s vision; and that it would work to reverse the changes during voting on both the House and Senate floor.

What was seen in the following days, however, was a Planalto Palace incapable of promoting changes in the proposal. Political articulators began to admit that there was no way to recover the defeats suffered in the environmental area, otherwise the MP would lose its validity and the entire ministerial structure designed by Lula would be discarded.