Planalto resists changing post-defeat political articulation – 05/07/2023 – Politics

The Planalto Palace shows signs that it will maintain its form of political articulation with the National Congress even after the first significant defeat of the Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) government in the Chamber of Deputies and in the face of growing pressure for speed in the release of amendments and appointments of political appointees to Executive positions.

Parliamentary amendments are resources for deputies and senators to send to works and projects at their bases, with gain in electoral political capital —and, therefore, are used as a bargaining chip in negotiations.

Under Lula, the Planalto concentrated the release of these resources in its hands, unlike what happened in the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government, when management was in charge of the top of Congress and the leaders of the party benches.

The mayor himself, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), as well as leaders of parties that make up the PT’s base, argue that the model should be more decentralized, allowing the participation of the Legislative, which strengthens the leaders and mayors of the Chamber and the Senate.

Lula was elected president with a small base of left-wing parliamentarians in Congress, about a quarter of the seats. With that, he has sought rapprochement and alliances with center and right-wing parties, but there is still much dissatisfaction and threats of rebellion.

Parliamentarians criticize, mainly, the performance of ministers Alexandre Padilha (Secretary of Institutional Relations) and Rui Costa (Casa Civil) in the political articulation.

Lula’s assistants, however, claim that a ministerial reform is ruled out at this time.

The President of the Republic himself signaled that he will not make changes to his team. Despite publicly charging Padilha on Thursday (4) during a Council meeting, Lula said this Saturday (6) that “under no circumstances” would he consider changing the team.

“Padilha is the best the country has in terms of political articulation”, stated the president in London, where he accompanied the party for the coronation of Charles III.

“If there is a disagreement in politics, everything can be settled. The hardest thing is to keep getting it right. There are 513 deputies and a single political coordinator. Sometimes a certain disagreement can happen that we will settle. In politics, everything is possible. The only thing impossible is God sin. The rest, everything is possible”, said the president.

Lula’s allies claim, behind the scenes, that it is up to the Executive, not the leaders in Congress, to form their political base.

In addition, they add, the petista was elected with a speech to give more transparency to the negotiation involving amendments and positions, which has always been the main negotiation procedure between the Executive and Legislative branches.

An assistant to the president says that the government is seeking a balance with parliamentarians, in order to make budget execution more agile and efficient, but without ceasing to have a careful follow-up by the government on the destination of these resources.

PT allies also reinforce that this will happen through dialogue with parliamentarians. Starting this week, meetings with the president will be held with the party benches and the respective ministers of each party.

According to Lula’s assistants, these meetings were already planned and should be held frequently in an attempt to bring parliamentarians closer to the Executive. In them, according to reports, the president will listen to the demands and understand how the government can expedite them, in addition to reinforcing the commitments that have already been signed, but without this occurring in a demanding tone.

Within the PT, however, there are leaders who defend a more incisive tone from the president to demand loyalty. According to them, parties represented on the Esplanada dos Ministérios are responsible to the government.

The overthrow of excerpts from the decrees that alter the Sanitation Framework, the government’s first defeat in a plenary vote, took place by 295 votes to 136, and had almost total support from parties such as the MDB, União Brasil and PSD, with politicians who indicated representatives of nine Ministries on the Esplanada.

Party members also criticize the PSB, vice-president Geraldo Alckmin’s party, which had three parliamentarians who voted against the government on the matter, including its leader, federal deputy Felipe Carreras (PE).

In the words of one of Lula’s aides, it is not about demanding loyalty from the parties, but that they understand that they are part of a government project and that they are committed to it.

He also points out that the release of amendments is foreseen in the “normal schedule”, that amendments from previous years have already started to be released (inscribed in the so-called remains to be paid) and that the commitments assumed by the government still in the approval of the PEC of the Transition, in December, will be honored.

Also scheduled to take place on Wednesday (10) is a meeting of the forum of parties that define themselves as progressive, which brings together presidents of the PT, PV, PC do B, Rede, PSOL, PDT and PSB, in which, in addition to other topics, political articulation and support for the government will be discussed.

Such as Sheet showed, the defeat last Wednesday showed, on the part of the parliamentarians, the need for a change in the political articulation in Congress.

According to them, there is a line of defeats to be applied to the Planalto at a time when priority projects for the Executive are about to be voted on, as is the case with the government’s first MPs (provisional measures) and the new fiscal framework.