Lira criticizes but says she “will not screw” Lula’s government

The president of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), said, in an interview with the newspaper “O Globo” published this Sunday (30), that he “will not mock” the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), but at the same time he criticized the political articulation of the Secretariat for Institutional Relations and measures such as changes in the legal framework for sanitation promoted by means of a decree. “Congress was elected in a completely different way than the Executive”, he said.

“I could have been elected mayor without the PT, but I accepted their support and I’m not going to mock the government,” said Lira. “I will not work against or deliberately act to harm. But the president of the Chamber is not an aggregate, he is a partner ”, she added.

“We are going to help with the guidelines, such as the project for the fiscal framework. Everything we can do to make the business environment better, with less interest and inflation, we will do. Then we will have tax reform. These are the targets until July, ”he said.

“Now, on certain issues, you cannot go back. Congress was elected in a completely different way than the Executive. There are government issues such as, for example, changes to the Sanitation Framework through decrees. Congress does not accept that a law is changed like that, ”he commented.

The president of the Chamber of Deputies also criticized the articulation of the government in the Legislative, under the responsibility of the Minister of the Institutional Relations Secretariat, Alexandre Padilha, who he defined as “a fine and educated subject, but who has had difficulties”.

“It has not been reflected in a good satisfaction relationship. Maybe the class needs to decentralize more, trust more. If you centralize it, it holds a lot. There is a lot of difficulty, perhaps due to the time that the PT has been out of power”, evaluated the parliamentarian.

Still in the interview, Lira defended the rapporteur’s amendments, which became known as the “secret budget” and were eventually overturned by the Federal Supreme Court (STF). For the president of the Chamber, the mechanism was better for sewing political support than the nominations of parties for positions in ministries.

“The way it is, the congressman is left with the saucer in his hand and a minister, who does not receive votes and does not run a contest, is the one who defines the allocation of R$ 200 billion to municipalities in Brazil”, he argued. “I have always said that the budget is much more democratic if it is decided by 600 parliamentarians than by 10 ministers.”

“I was elected without RP-9 (rapporteur’s amendments) and I have had a good relationship without it. It doesn’t interfere with anything in my life. But in governance, yes. We know what the parties want: favoring public works and services to increase their political scope and serve their bases. The government needs to organize itself, more specifically the Secretariat for Institutional Relations.”

Regarding Jair Bolsonaro (PL), Lira said he sees other right-wing names as more electorally viable than the former president. “Did he throw away the possibility of re-election? No doubt. Another right-wing name like Romeu Zema, Tarcísio de Freitas or Ratinho Jr. are you going to waste this chance and make so many mistakes? So, maybe Bolsonaro is a better campaigner than a candidate.”