Nordeste Consortium says that Zema deepens the logic of an unequal country

The governor of Paraíba, João Azevêdo (PSB), president of the Nordeste Consortium, released a note this Sunday (6) in which he classifies as “worrying” the defense made by the governor of Minas Gerais, Romeu Zema (Novo), of a greater role policy for the states of the South and Southeast as opposed to those of the North and Northeast.

The governors of Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais, Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and São Paulo are part of the South-Southeast Consortium (Cosud), currently chaired by Ratinho Júnior (PSD) from Paraná.

“For the first time, the day before the tax reform was voted on, we invited all 256 federal deputies (half of the Chamber of Deputies) from the South and Southeast. Those from the North and Northeast are way ahead of us”, said Zema in an interview published on Saturday (5) in the newspaper O Estado de S.Paulo.

In the note issued this Sunday, Azevêdo states that the Minas Gerais governor’s speech “indicates a movement of tension with the North and Northeast, regions that have been known to be penalized over the last decades of national development projects”, and that the interview deepens “the logic of a subaltern, divided and unequal country”.

According to him, the regional union of the North and Northeast states would not represent a war against the other states of the federation, “but a way to compensate, through regional organization, the historical inequalities of development opportunities”.

“In this context, indicating a war between regions means not only not understanding the inequalities of a country of continental proportions, but, at the same time, suggests wanting to maintain them, thereby maintaining the same form of governance that characterized these inequalities” , he wrote.

For the governor of Paraíba, the union of the states of the South and Southeast in an inter-federal consortium may represent progress in the consolidation of a new federative arrangement “to the extent that we all bet on a Brazil that fights its inequalities, respects diversities, bets on sustainability and believes in his people”.

Check out the full note from the president of the Northeast Consortium

OFFICIAL NOTE

The governor of Minas Gerais, in an interview published in the newspaper O Estado de São Paulo on August 5th, demonstrates a worrying reading of Brazil. By defending the protagonism of the South and Southeast, he indicates a movement of tension with the North and Northeast, regions that have been known to be penalized over the last decades by national development projects.

The Northeast Consortium, as well as that of the Legal Amazon, taking advantage of the deep regional, cultural and historical identity, were created with the objective of strengthening these regions, uniting the states around cooperation and sharing of best practices and solutions to common problems , seeking to contribute to sustainable development and the mitigation of our regional inequalities.

Denying any kind of separatist flash, the Nordeste Consortium immediately announces in its slogan that it is an expression of “The Brazil that grows together”. While the North and Northeast bet on strengthening the project of a democratic, inclusive Brazil, and therefore one of unity and reconstruction, the aforementioned interview seems to deepen the logic of a subaltern, divided and unequal country.

It is past time for Brazil to see the Northeast as a region capable of being an active part of leveraging the country’s economic growth and, thus, actively contributing to the reduction of regional, economic and social inequalities.

It is important to reaffirm that the regional union of the Northeastern states and, also, those of the North, does not represent a war against the other states of the federation, but a way to compensate, through regional organization, the historical inequalities of development opportunities.

In this context, indicating a war between regions means not only not understanding the inequalities of a country of continental proportions, but, at the same time, suggests wanting to maintain them, thereby maintaining the same form of governance that characterized these inequalities.

The union of the states of the South and Southeast in an interfederative Consortium may represent a breakthrough in the consolidation of a new federative arrangement in the country. This advance, however, will only take place as we all bet on a Brazil that fights its inequalities, respects diversity, bets on sustainability and believes in its people.

Thus, we, governors of the Northeast Region, in addition to defending an increasingly stronger and more prosperous Brazil, call for national unity around the reconstitution of strategic areas for our country, such as the economy, public security, education, health and infrastructure.

Northeast Brazil, August 06, 2023.

JOÃO AZEVÊDO
President of the Northeast Consortium
Governor of the State of Paraíba