Haddad exchanges barbs with Lira and says that the Chamber cannot humiliate the Senate and the Executive

In the midst of a great effort by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) to expand the government base in the Chamber of Deputies by negotiating even ministries of allies, Minister Fernando Haddad, of Finance, said that he exchanges barbs in “heated debates” with the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (PP-AL).

He also mentioned what would be close to a humiliation that deputies impose on the Senate and the Executive branch during the votes on projects considered a priority for the government, in which billions of reais must be released in amendments to make the proposals pass.

“Don’t you think it’s easy. The Chamber has a lot of power, and it cannot use that power to humiliate the Senate and the Executive”, said Haddad in an interview with journalist Reinaldo Azevedo’s podcast aired this Monday (14).

According to the minister, Brazil is experiencing a “very strange thing, which is a parliamentary system without a prime minister”. He questioned the amount of BRL 40 billion in amendments destined to parliamentarians, that “it is [equivalente] to 0.4% of the GDP (Gross Domestic Product), where in the world is that”, he commented.

Just to approve the tax reform, in early July, the government released R$ 7.3 billion in amendments on the dates close to the vote. In addition to the funds, Lula’s articulation made the change in the Esplanada requested by União Brasil, with the change of command of the Ministry of Tourism, and will house PP and Republican deputies in portfolios yet to be decided.

The whole articulation, advanced Haddad, has had setbacks in the way of negotiations with Arthur Lira. The president of the Chamber of Deputies has appeared alongside Lula at official events.

“We just show up smiling, but sometimes… it’s about heated debates”, said Haddad, noting that he has a differentiated relationship with the president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), which he considers “spectacular”.

legislature made the transition

Also during the interview in which he recognized the difficulty of negotiating with Arthur Lira, Fernando Haddad said that the transition from the government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL) to that of Lula was mainly affected by the Legislature, which approved the PEC, and by the Judiciary .

“The transition was not made by the Executive. The transition was made by the Legislature and the Judiciary. This has to be valued. A principle of harmony between the Powers has been recovered,” he said.

However, shortly afterwards, he stressed that power in democracy is transitory, pointing out that Lira should leave the Chamber at the end of 2024 – but without nominating the parliamentarian.

“You know what’s good about democracy? It’s just that the person won’t have that power forever. The institution may even have it, but you don’t know who will own it two years from now, four years from now, 10 years from now”, he added.

Shortly afterwards, in the early afternoon, Minister Rui Costa, of the Civil House, denied that any conflict was taking place behind the scenes in the relationship between the government and the Chamber of Deputies.