“Too much leftism” wears down Gleisi with the PT’s government and majority current

The national president of the PT, federal deputy Gleisi Hoffmann (PR), would be facing internal wear and tear by adopting more radical positions, which contradict the platforms officially defended by the government and by the Construindo um Novo Brasil (CNB) current, to which both Gleisi and the President Lula and who make up the majority of the PT group in the National Congress. According to newspaper report The globe, other PT leaders question the clashes between Gleisi and the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, who has so far won the discussions. “We cannot be an opposition party while being a government,” said Deputy Washington Quaquá (RJ), one of the vice-presidents of the PT and also a member of the CNB, to the Rio de Janeiro newspaper.

More recently, Gleisi took the lead in criticizing the new fiscal framework proposed by Haddad and sent by the government to Congress. The deputy claims that the suggested rules are too rigid, despite the fact that the text provides for few punishments, does not hold the President of the Republic responsible in case of non-compliance with the fiscal target and guarantees a real increase in public spending regardless of the performance of the economy. Previously, Gleisi had already spoken out publicly against the return of federal taxes on fuel, which Haddad defended as part of a package to reduce the public deficit forecast for 2023. Quaquá and other PT congressmen argue that Gleisi’s criticisms run the risk of being seen as an official position of the party, hindering the building of support in Congress.

heard by The globe, Gleisi stated that he has no plans to leave the CNB, that internal disagreements are common, but there is no “strained relationship” and that “the PT has a lot of cohesion around the government”. Deputies closest to Gleisi still claim that she is being the victim of “partisan intrigues” and that she has softened the tone on the fiscal framework after the proposal was officially endorsed by Lula. Furthermore, two months ago, another report by The globe suggested that Gleisi’s clashes with the less radical wings of the government would form part of a kind of “twin” with Lula, with whom she is very close. The President of the Republic was the guarantor of Gleisi’s rise and permanence at the head of the PT; although she did not receive a ministry, she participated in the choice of the first echelon, and Lula stated, in December 2022, that she would assume a role “as or more important than being a minister”. At the time, PT leaders heard by the newspaper said that the clashes would help Lula to consolidate a mediator role and, by agreeing to Haddad, would still convey the image that the government does not belong to the PT, but to the broad alliance that elected the PT in October 2022.