Lula has 1st month with government more to the left than in 2003 – 02/04/2023 – Power

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) completes a month of his third term in office with a profile more to the left and turned towards his base than the one adopted when he took over the Executive for the first time, in 2003.

The president has been signaling this political field in the economy and customs at a more intense pace than in his debut at the Planalto Palace.

Use of neutral language, appointments of economists with interventionist conviction, intensification of agendas aimed at minorities and confrontation with the military marked the first month of the new government.

In 2003, in turn, the president began his term with more gestures towards the financial market, avoided clashes with the Armed Forces and gave less prominence to issues linked to the left, such as the indigenous issue.

On the occasion, for the Ministry of Finance, he chose a team with a more liberal profile compared to 2023. For the portfolio, he appointed a trusted PT member, as well as this year. But Antonio Palocci chose for the second echelon economists who were more pleasing to the financial market than the current secretaries of the agency.

In addition, he appointed Henrique Meirelles, a banker at the time elected deputy for the PSDB, to the Central Bank.

Lula’s current team has a strong developmentalist component, with the choice of Fernando Haddad for the Treasury and the presence of more left-wing economists on the team, such as Guilherme Mello. On the other hand, the market is pleased with Simone Tebet’s role in Planning and there are more orthodox economists, such as Bernard Appy, in charge of negotiating the tax reform.

In another signal for the market in 2003, the Lula government 1 carried out a budget cut of BRL 14 billion right from the start —BRL 44 billion in current values ​​— and raised the primary surplus target to 4.25% of GDP ( Gross Domestic Product).

An example of contrasting discourse between Lula’s 1st and 3rd administrations came to light with the participation in the ceremony for the reopening of legislative work. Last week, for example, in the message sent to the National Congress, Lula stated that the spending ceiling “had destructive effects on social policies.” At the same event in 2003, the PT used his speech to justify the budget cuts and stated emphatically that the measures would last “as long as necessary”.

Currently, the petista has been criticizing the market by demanding “social responsibility” from this segment, nodding to his political base.

On the last 18th, for example, in an event with representatives of the trade union centrals at the Planalto Palace, Lula stated that he fights with the party’s economists saying it is necessary to “change the logic” of the Income Tax to guarantee exemption to those who earn up to R$ 5,000, in addition to making the richest pay more.

Parliamentarians evaluate that it is necessary to wait for the first measures of the economic area to know if the leftist rhetoric will be put into practice.

In the area of ​​customs, Lula gave greater prominence this year to issues such as diversity, something that was not so central at the beginning of his first term. The petista led to the first echelon, for example, a ministry to deal with indigenous peoples, which did not happen 20 years ago.

In addition, the president usually mentions the participation of women and blacks in his government. Lula 3 has a record number of female ministers, but the majority of the first echelon is still made up of white men.

The petista was elected with the aim of making a government that contemplated the diversity of color and race in the country. Of the 37 ministries announced, 11 are led by women (29%).

Before the new Esplanada de Lula, former president Dilma Rousseff (PT) was the one that had most placed women in its first echelon. Simultaneous, there were 10 out of 37 folders (27%).

Lula’s number 3 represents a significant increase compared to his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro (PL).

In the first echelon of the previous administration, there was only one minister, Cristiane Britto, at the head of the Ministry of Women, Family and Human Rights.

Bolsonaro did not prioritize his administration to compose a diverse team. He adheres to the discourse that this type of concern with representativeness “is mimimi”.

The identity agenda, which aims to increase the participation of different sectors of society, is a more present agenda on the left.

When he made public his first wave of ministers, during the transition, Lula anticipated the criticism and tried to justify the fact that the five ministers announced on that occasion were men.

“There will be other ministries. And you will see that we will put a lot of people to participate. There will be women, men, blacks, Indians, we will try to set up a government that is the face of Brazilian society, in its fullness. worry about it,” he said at the CCBB (Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil), headquarters of the transitional government.

In addition, in official events, government members have frequently used neutral language, which is defended by the left as a tool to combat discrimination against minorities — something that was not seen in the PT’s first victory over the federal government. The discussion was also not so widespread in society.

Government leaders, however, have already ruled out moving forward with what they call a “leftist agenda” in Congress. The expression “customs agenda” was used to refer to Bolsonaro’s conservative agenda.

For the time being, issues that could cause noise and harm the economic agenda should be left aside, such as the expansion of legal abortion rules.

The return of Marina Silva (Rede) as Minister of the Environment is another strong sign of the representative on the left. She left the portfolio in 2008 on the grounds that she was losing the arm wrestling match within the Lula government at the time with the then governors of Mato Grosso, Blairo Maggi, and Rondônia, Ivo Cassol, regarding measures to combat deforestation.

The assessment of party members is that the current situation has reinforced the need for the Chief Executive to establish a progressive bias in the government.

On the other hand, Lula’s interlocutors also point out that the motto of “broad front” adopted by the PT during the presidential campaign must be maintained. The petista got support from ten subtitles in the first round.

When setting up his ministry, in search of governability, he made room for politicians from acronyms such as MDB, PSD and União Brasil.

While in his first term the main opponent was the PSDB, a center-right party, this time Lula’s rival is the extreme right-wing ex-president Bolsonaro.

In addition, the invasions and depredations of the headquarters of the three Powers put the PT member in conflict with the military, which did not occur in Lula’s first term.

Behind the scenes, PT supporters credit part of Lula’s nods to the left to the influence of Rosângela da Silva, better known as Janja. The first lady is active in the day-to-day of the government and usually helps the representative in decision-making.

A PT militant since 1983, she bridges Lula’s path with the artistic class and tends to reverberate, behind the scenes, progressive agendas.

Planalto interlocutors also say that the president gave even more centrality to the work of social movements within the government. The president created in all ministries a specific consultancy focused on popular participation and, last week, signed the decree that creates the Social Participation Council.

In addition, one of the first events he participated in after being elected in Planalto was a meeting with trade unions, his electoral base since he entered politics in the 1970s.