Lula sees pressure for ministries and a clash between Lira and Renan – 05/30/2023 – Politics

The difficulties surrounding the provisional measure that restructures the Esplanada dos Ministérios were read by members of the Lula government (PT) as messages of dissatisfaction from members of the centrão with the space of each party in the folders.

Behind the obstacles there is also a dispute between the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), and Senator Renan Calheiros (MDB-AL), which should remain regardless of the outcome of the MP, in the opinion of government supporters and members of the Planalto Palace.

The government’s expectation on Tuesday night (30) was that the provisional measure would be approved by the deputies, but the possibility of the plenary approving changes was not ruled out. That night, the issue had not yet begun to be discussed in the House, and Lira did not rule out a scenario of defeat for Lula’s base.

Throughout the day, there was a fear that Lira would not guide the MP this Tuesday, leaving a gap for it to win, or that deputies would force the postponement – ​​the text loses its effectiveness at the end of the night of Thursday (1st) and still needs to be considered by the Senate.

Government officials spent the day working to improve the climate in Congress. Behind the scenes, party leaders from the so-called centrão complained about the PT’s excessive space in the ministries, the projection given to the Minister of the Environment, Marina Silva (Rede) and the space that other parties, such as União Brasil, have, without necessarily delivering the votes.

In addition, deputies complained about the delay in releasing parliamentary amendments and also the so-called extra funds, which include ministries’ money, in addition to the relationship with government ministers.

For this reason, according to three leaders who told the report, there was the willingness of a wing of the National Congress to defeat the government’s provisional measure aimed at restarting discussions on the assembly and structure of the Esplanada.

This measure, however, would be drastic, since the Esplanada would have the configuration of the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government, and was treated as unlikely by wings of Congress and by the government itself.

Regardless of the approval of the MP, however, the dissatisfaction of parliamentarians with the government should remain.

On another front, members of the Planalto attributed what they called “parochial issues”, the result of a dispute in Alagoas between Lira and Renan, to the fear that the mayor would not act to help the government in this specific matter.

According to members of the political wing and government parliamentarians, Lira sent a complaint to President Lula himself, to the Civil House and to the Institutional Relations Secretariat on Monday night (29) that he was dissatisfied with messages published by Renan Calheiros on social networks. social.

On Twitter, the senator called Lira a deadbeat, accused him of embezzling public money and also of having beaten his ex-wife Julyenne Lins. The president of the Chamber sent a message to Planalto that he considered the declarations of the senator from Lula’s base to be inadmissible and that the government was being lenient in keeping his son, Renan Filho, at the head of the Ministry of Transport.

According to Planalto members, Lira sent messages that she would guide the Esplanada MP so as not to cause a government blackout, but would change her stance on measures of interest to Lula. The message was read by the government as pressure for Lula to replace Renan Filho.

Renan’s allies, however, say that the government makes a mistaken assessment of the influence of a local dispute, in Alagoas, on national politics. A number of government leaders also minimize the impact of the clash between the mayor and the senator.

This Tuesday, Lira said that the provisional measure would be voted on, but considered that it will be up to parliamentarians to decide on the text, and it is not possible to guarantee a version of interest to the government.

“It has to be voted on. If it’s going to be approved, if it’s not going to be approved, if it’s going to be amended, if it’s going to be modified, it’s the plenary. Not voting I think it’s an abusive act”, said Lira upon arriving at the Chamber.

He stated that he did not “directly” participate in the articulation of the provisional measure and that this was the responsibility of the government’s leadership in the Chamber. According to him, there must be “many highlights” to the text presented by the rapporteur Isnaldo Bulhões Jr. (MDB-AL), Renan’s ally.

According to Lira, the MP would be voted after the consideration of the time frame bill. He also stated that two other provisional measures edited by the government should be considered, the one that guarantees payments of an extra 50% in the Auxílio Gás program and the one that recreates the Bolsa Família.

The text that was scheduled to be voted on in the plenary of the Chamber empties the ministries of Marina and Sônia Guajajara (Indigenous Peoples), in addition to the portfolio of Agrarian Development, commanded by Paulo Teixeira.

The government was in a hurry to vote on the text because, if it is not approved in both Houses by Thursday, the structure of the government would revert to that of Bolsonaro’s previous ministry, which would represent a broad defeat for Lula.

As Folha showed, opposition and centrão deputies sent messages to the Planalto Palace about their dissatisfaction and that they could use the MP’s vote to wall the government.

Earlier, Minister Alexandre Padilha (Secretary of Institutional Relations) said that the Lula government will defend the approval of the amended version by Congress, despite the fact that, last week, the political core of the Planalto have said that action to try to revert the changes in the Legislative and preserve the Portfolios of Marina and Guajajara.

“I reaffirm that we are going to defend the report the way it is,” said Padilha, at an event with the Parliamentary Front for Entrepreneurship, in Brasília. “I am not saying that it is the ideal report for the government, but it was a construction with the Chamber and the Senate”, she added.

Members of the government assessed that, if it were approved as passed by the joint commission last week, it would already be a victory for the government.