President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).| Photo: Valter Campanato/Agência Brasil.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) opened this Friday (27) his first meeting with the 27 governors, defending political dialogue as a way for Brazil to “return to normality”. This is the PT’s first meeting for the heads of state executives to present requests for actions considered priorities to be carried out by the federal government in each state.

“We are going to show the Brazilian people that hatred is over. That what happened on January 8 will not happen again. We are going to recover democracy in this country, and the essentiality of democracy is to say what you want, as long as it does not obstruct the right for the other to speak. Therefore, I say that Brazil will return to normality”, declared Lula.

President Lula also stated that his government will not make a distinction between governors who support or oppose the federal government. According to the petista, there will be no “veto” to requests from governments, and that state demands will be analyzed by the Planalto Palace.

“In every state I go, I will visit the governor’s office, unless he doesn’t want to. I’m not going to do like terrorists and invade the governor’s office. We know that each governor has their local demands and wants discuss a number of things,” he added.

After the president’s speech, the meeting was closed to the press. One of the main topics presented by the governors should be the loss of tax collection by the states after changes in the collection of the Tax on Circulation of Goods and Services (ICMS) on products considered essential, such as fuel and electricity.

“We know that governors want to discuss a number of things. The ICMS issue is something that has been on your mind since it was approved by Congress. We can get it right, we won’t stop discussing any subject with you”, said Lula.