União Brasil increases pressure and may impose new defeats on Lula

The União Brasil bench met this week to define the party’s next steps regarding support for the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) in the Chamber of Deputies. Despite the acronym having three ministers in the PT government, most of the 59 deputies defend that there should be independence from the Planalto Palace.

To try to reduce the impasse within the party, the government released at least R$ 75 million in parliamentary amendments in recent days. In addition, the Civil House appointed some political appointees from União Brasil to federal government bodies.

However, the resistance of the wing of the party that defends the opposition may even impose new defeats on Lula in the coming weeks. After giving 48 votes against the government in the vote that overturned excerpts from the decrees on the sanitation framework, the União Brasil bench is now mobilizing to try to overthrow other Planalto proposals. Among them, the decrees that deal with the regulation of weapons and the one that resumed the visa requirement for citizens of Australia, United States, Canada, and Japan to enter Brazil.

In the case of the decree on weapons, the deputies of the União Brasil indicate that they intend to wait for the new text that will be published by Lula later this month to define what the strategy will be. The assessment, according to the parliamentarians, is that if the government publishes a “very restrictive” decree, as the Minister of Justice and Public Security, Flávio Dino, has indicated, there will be retaliation on the part of the party.

According to this wing of the party, the restriction on access to weapons should directly impact the sector of hunters, shooters and collectors (CACs) and shooting clubs. In the case of the decree that deals with the requirement of visas for citizens of other countries, the complaint is that the measure has a direct impact on the tourism sector throughout the country.

Last week, for example, deputies Alfredo Gaspar (União-AL) and Rodrigo Valadares (União-SE) signed the Legislative Decree Project (PDL) by Deputy Marcel Van Hattem (Novo-RS) which aims to overturn the measure.

Another project that promises to bring resistance to the government by União Brasil concerns the text of the new fiscal framework. Party deputies consider that the text sent by the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, has loose rules and intend to defend an expansion of spending restrictions by the federal government.

Leader of União Brasil in the Chamber defends position of independence from the Lula government

The movement of the União Brasil deputies who resist joining Lula’s base has been endorsed by the leader of the party in the Chamber, deputy Elmar Nascimento (BA). The parliamentarian was even quoted to assume a ministry during the transition period, but ended up having the name discarded after pressure from PT members in Bahia.

Since then, Nascimento has defended the party’s independence from the Planalto Palace. In an attempt to woo the leader of the party, Lula kept Marcelo Andrade Moreira Pinto, who was sponsored by Nascimento, as president of Codevasf. The agency has a budget of R$ 1.8 billion to carry out works this year.

The leader of União Brasil, however, has been waging a dispute with the PT party in Bahia to keep his allies in the superintendents of the state-owned company in the state. Recently, for example, the target of the dispute was the superintendence of Bom Jesus da Lapa, where the PT tried to overthrow Harley Xavier Nascimento, nominated by Deputy Arthur Maia (União-BA).

Before that, Elmar Nascimento also won the fight with the leader of the government in the Senate, Senator Jaques Wagner (PT), for the command of the superintendence of Codevasf in Juazeiro. The leader of União Brasil is one of the main allies of the mayor, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), and has been quoted to be the candidate of Lira’s group in the dispute for the presidency of the House in 2024.

“[Por causa da] party configuration, it is not convenient [entrar na base]. Imagine, I give you a statement that I am a base. I leave with 20 to 25 deputies contesting me. What will the government gain from this?”, said Nascimento in an interview with the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo.

União Brasil is the result of the merger of the DEM, a party that has historically opposed the PT governments, with the PSL, which in 2018 elected the largest bench in the Chamber with the candidacy of Jair Bolsonaro.

“Once the election [de 2022], União Brasil won three ministries, but there is no programmatic adherence even in relation to Lula’s party. It will be difficult for Lula to get this membership within União Brasil”, assesses Cristiano Noronha, political scientist at consultancy Arko Advice.

Lula tries to attract deputies through positions and parliamentary amendments

Without the consolidation of a majority in Congress and after defeats in the Chamber, President Lula entered the political articulation in order to attract the support of deputies and senators. In this strategy, the petista has been demanding his ministers Rui Costa (Casa Civil) and Alexandre Padilha (Institutional Relations) for the release of appointments of political appointees and parliamentary amendments.

The release of funds began this week with the distribution of R$ 75 million in amendments to União Brasil parliamentarians. The amount, however, was below what was released to other parties that have a smaller group than that of União Brasil. In the case of the PSD, which has 42 deputies, R$ 143 million were released. As for the MDB, which also has 42 deputies, the Lula government released more than R$ 91 million.

In addition to the release of amendments, this Tuesday (9) União Brasil managed to sign the name of José Roberto Carlos Cavalcante as director of the Department of Water Resources and Revitalization of Watersheds of the Ministry of Integration. The nomination was made by Deputy Moses Rodrigues (CE).

Last week, former congresswoman Rose Modesto (MS) had already been appointed as superintendent of Development for the Midwest. During a meeting with members of União Brasil this week, Rui Costa indicated that the government intends to speed up the appointment of political nominees.

At least 150 names nominated by parliamentarians from parties such as União Brasil, PSD and MDB are still awaiting appointments by the Civil House. “I would say that the amendments were not committed within the deadline and in the expectation that the parliamentarians had, but things are being oiled”, said Rui Costa this Wednesday (10) in an interview with Globo News.