Lula received non-PT parliamentarians only twice – 05/15/2023 – Politics

President Lula (PT) met at the Planalto Palace with non-PT parliamentarians — other than the heads of the Chamber and Senate or the leader of the government in Congress — on just two occasions in his first four and a half months of management.

Faced with the government’s difficulties in forming a solid base and in the wake of defeats in the Legislature, the head of the Executive has been asked to participate more closely in political articulation.

But Lula has preferred to meet parliamentarians only on national and international trips and ceremonies.

In addition, there is an understanding of the representative that the articulation should be focused on Minister Alexandre Padilha (Secretary of Institutional Relations) and government leaders in Congress, Randolfe Rodrigues (Rede-AP), in the Chamber, José Guimarães (PT-CE ), and in the Senate, Jaques Wagner (PT-BA).

They appear in almost a dozen agendas, but they were gathered at Palácio da Alvorada other times — without official records, it is not possible to quantify.

Lula’s first specific agenda with a non-PT congressman was on February 27, when, in addition to the governor of Pará, Helder Barbalho (MDB), he met with senator Jader Barbalho (MDB-PA).

The following day, on February 28, Lula met with leaders and vice-leaders of his government, in the first month of the Legislature, in which the guidelines and priorities of his third government were presented. Even so, of the 13 parliamentarians present, 6 were PT members.

In addition to ministers Padilha, Rui Costa (Casa Civil) and the leaders, there were also deputies Bohn Gass (PT-RS), Carlos Zarattini (PT-SP), Lindbergh Farias (PT-RJ), Reginaldo Lopes (PT-MG ), Dorinaldo Malafaia (PDT-AP), Lídice da Mata (PSB-BA), Daniel Almeida (PC do B-BA), Roseana Sarney (MDB-MA), Otto Alencar Filho (PSD-BA) and Laura Carneiro (PSD -RJ).

In the total of four and a half months, there were 21 agendas in the Planalto with parliamentarians, according to a survey based on the Agenda Transparente project by Sejam Sabendo.

The presidents of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), and of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), were at least six and three times, respectively, at the Planalto Palace with Lula. But they have also been received outside the agenda by the Chief Executive, as at a dinner at the home of Minister Paulo Pimenta (Secom), which was attended by Lula, Padilha, Guimarães and Lira.

The posture of the representative in his third term differs from the first two, when meetings, dinners and even football games were common with parliamentarians. Lula gained fame for his conciliatory role in politics and was called “Pelé” in this sector by Minister Padilha recently.

In a speech at an event in Ceará on Friday (13), Lula defended talking to 513 deputies and 81 senators – the total number of parliamentarians in each House – and said that he needs to talk to each deputy in each different vote.

“It is not the Congress that needs the government. The way the Brazilian Constitution is, it is the government that needs the Congress. Therefore, the relationship has to be civilized, we have to talk”, he said.

“The PT only has 69 deputies [na verdade, são 68]. To vote for something important, I need 257, which means I need to talk to at least 200 deputies. Then I have to talk to everyone. I don’t have to ask what party he is, I have to try to ask him to vote for us (…). I have to talk to everyone so we can approve things,” he added.

Sought after, Secom (Secretary of Communication of the Presidency) emphasized that the president maintains dialogue with parliamentarians in “agendas, meetings and trips” and highlighted Padilha’s role.

“President Lula has also maintained a permanent dialogue with parliamentarians on various agendas, in meetings, on national trips and on international missions that counted on the participation of deputies and senators from different parties”, he said.

In the delegation traveling to China, for example, there were 7 senators and 19 deputies – including two from the PP, Arthur Lira’s party.

Secom also stated that, in addition to Padilha acting in “permanent dialogue” with parliamentarians, “all ministers are oriented to maintain dialogue with elected representatives of Parliament, state and municipal governments”.

Padilha, in turn, said that Lula will enter the field “whenever he needs to”, but he highlighted the meetings he had on trips, with parliamentarians and governors.

“[Lula] will be made available. In his international travels, he had intense contact with parliamentarians, with governors, he received governors, more than once, meeting with governors of all parties. Last week, he had a meeting with two governors, they are governors who did not participate [da campanha], did not vote for President Lula, but they have an institutional relationship. And it also participates following the performance of its ministers, our permanent performance”, he said.

The government faced two recent defeats in Congress: the postponement of the Fake News PL vote and the overthrow of Lula’s decrees that brought changes to the Sanitation Framework.

The second, in particular, was interpreted by palace assistants as a message from Congress of dissatisfaction with the government. There is a permanent complaint from parliamentarians with an alleged delay in the release of amendments and positions.

Such as Sheet showed, the government accelerated the release of amendments by deputies and senators after the setback in Congress.

About R$ 1.15 billion of the individual quota of parliamentarians was committed in the last week. For the rest of the year, the committed amount had not yet reached R$ 200 million.

Of this amount, the PT was the most benefited party. About R$ 197 million of the quota of parliamentarians from the president’s party were pledged.

The PT management still plans to start disbursing, in the coming weeks, resources related to the rapporteur’s old amendments, which total R$ 9.85 billion.

Allies of the Chief Executive have been advocating that he enter more into political articulation and even participate in meetings with leaders of grassroots parties, which began with the PSB and PSD.

After a meeting with ministers at the Alvorada Palace, however, the atmosphere changed. He overcame the understanding that the joint should continue as it is, especially since changing now could be seen as disavowing his team.