Lula gave in to empty Marina Silva and acted for Rui Costa – 05/24/2023 – Politics

The Planalto Palace acted to try to avoid defeats in priority areas for President Lula (PT) in the provisional measure for the reorganization of the Esplanada dos Ministérios.

With Lula’s endorsement, the government’s political articulation yielded to pressure from the centrão, mainly from the ruralists, to shield the Civil House, responsible for executing the most important projects for the president, such as the PPI (Investment Partnership Program).

The idea of ​​withdrawing powers from Minister Rui Costa (Casa Civil) was debated by congressional leaders amid dissatisfaction with the government’s political articulation. Rui adopted a more technical profile in charge of the folder, instead of also participating in negotiations with parliamentarians.

The balance of the negotiation of the new format of the Esplanada was negative for Minister Marina Silva (Environment), whose portfolio was emptied with the transfer of attributions to other ministries.

An example is the CAR (Rural Environmental Registry), the instrument to control private lands and conflicts in preservation areas. According to the report by Deputy Isnaldo Bulhões (MDB-AL), the CAR should leave the ministry headed by Marina and go to the portfolio of Management and Innovation in Public Services.

Lula’s interlocutors also acted to prevent the rapporteur from proposing the recreation of Funasa, extinct at the beginning of the government. The center presses for the reactivation of the organ. The idea is that Isnaldo includes in the text a device that authorizes its extinction and delegates the final word on the matter to the government.

The Planalto assessment is that the concessions provided for in Isnaldo’s report would be inevitable with the current correlation of forces in Congress. The political wing had the diagnosis that it would be very difficult to face the articulation of the ruralist caucus in the agrarian and environmental area.

Marina, however, has already communicated her dissatisfaction with the loss of assignments to Planalto. This Tuesday (23), in an interview, she criticized the measures.

“Any attempt to dismantle the Brazilian environmental system is a disservice,” said the Minister of the Environment, who is already facing an internal dispute in the government over Petrobras’ desire to explore for oil in the basin at the mouth of the Amazon River.

In addition, the MP report that changes the structure of the Esplanade provides for the transfer of management from ANA (National Agency for Water and Basic Sanitation) to the Ministry of Integration and Regional Development. Today the structure is with the Environment.

Integration is headed by Waldez Góes — despite being from the PDT, he was nominated by União Brasil parliamentarians.

Another dehydration of Marina’s portfolio consists of the change of information systems for the Ministry of Cities, commanded by Jader Filho (MDB-PA). They are: Sinisa (National Information System on Basic Sanitation), Sinir (National Information System on Solid Waste Management) and Singreh (National Water Resources Management System).

Target of dispute between ruralists, Conab (Companhia Nacional de Abastecimento) should also have its competences dismembered.

Under the government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL), the body was linked to the Agriculture portfolio, currently commanded by Carlos Fávaro (PSD). With the original MP, edited by Lula at the beginning of the government, it was transferred to Agrarian Development and Family Agriculture, headed by Paulo Teixeira (PT).

The deputy’s report does not remove Conab from Agrarian Development, but transfers part of its competences back to Agriculture. These changes were negotiated with the portfolios of Teixeira and Fávaro.

Isnaldo did not include in his report the content of the provisional measure that transfers the Coaf (Council for the Control of Financial Activities) from the Central Bank to the Ministry of Finance, a possibility that was fanned behind the scenes.

Members of Congress already take it for granted that this matter will lose its validity and, therefore, the council should return to the BC. Members of the economic team minimized the effects of an eventual loss of validity of the MP for the transfer of the body.

Upon leaving a meeting with President Lula, at the Alvorada Palace, Minister Alexandre Padilha (Institutional Relations) stated that it is still possible to make “adjustments” until the vote on the provisional measure in the commission, but minimized the changes promoted by the rapporteur.

Padilha also added that the entire text was negotiated with the government as a whole. According to him, it is a “balanced” report, which maintains the initial spirit of the government’s proposal.

“It is natural that the National Congress, especially a joint commission that debates the Chamber and the Senate, wants to make contributions. These are contributions that maintain the initial spirit of the government’s restructuring, that is, those central issues are maintained,” he said.

“I consider that the report is positive, it maintains central issues that the government wanted to establish, it even incorporates very important elements and makes balances”.