Labor attacks Lula’s fuel proposals, Lula is silent and the minister may suffer a third defeat – politics

BRASILIA – The government of the Arab Republic of Egypt is about to complete two months Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva It exposes a noisy quarrel in your most sensitive areas. In public demonstrations in recent days, Labor and party leaders in Congress have joined forces against the resumption of the federal fuel tax levy and the new fuel price policy. Petrobras. Labor pressure hits the party’s chief minister on the Esplanada. farm owner Fernando Haddadwhich calls for a re-enactment of the law. Thus, the president of Petrobras, who is also a member of the Workers’ Party Jean Paul Pratis.

Lula must rule in the decision, which must be made by next Tuesday, when the PIS/Cofins exemption period for gasoline and alcohol expires. The size of the finance minister will be measured in the government by then. The economics team argues that there is no fiscal scope to maintain the fuel exemption. Extending the measure will cost 28.8 billion reais for the public treasury until the end of the year. Haddad, who declares in his inaugural speech that he is the “ugly duckling” of Esplanada, risks the fulfillment of his prophecy and achieves his third defeat in two months.

At the end of last year, the minister fought to end the PIS/Cofins exemption on petrol and alcohol, but was won by the political core. On January 1, Lula extended the procedure by two months. The minister suffered another defeat related to correcting the income tax schedule. Haddad advocated adopting the measure in 2024. However, Lula has now announced the correction, along with the readjustment of the minimum wage to R$1,320, in May.

On both occasions, Lula’s moves were anticipated into office by the head of the Workers’ Party, Jelly Hoffman, on Twitter. While Haddad was representing Brazil at the G-20 meeting, in India, Glessy and other Labor leaders turned to social networks to undermine the idea of ​​a comeback, which would, in practice, mean an increase in the price of fuel at the pump. The fear of sectors of the Labor Party and the political wing of the government is that price hikes in the first year of government could severely affect Lula’s popularity and revive the radical polarization of politics on the streets and in Congress.

reaction

The day before yesterday, the Labor chairman wrote: “We are not against fuel taxes, but to do so now is to punish the consumer, generate more inflation and fail to deliver on campaign commitments.” This came in response to Haddad’s second interview with a newspaper EstadaoAnd Gabriel Gallipolo, in which he called for a re-enactment. Due to his closeness to Lula, what Glessi shows is read in politics as a message from the president himself.

In a ripple effect, the Labor leader in the chamber, MP Zika Dirceu (PR), endorsed the PT Chairman’s letter. “The extension of the exemption must continue to seek not to affect the pockets of the population,” he also said on the social network. Vice Gilmar tattoo (PT-SP), Labor’s national communications secretary, countered on Twitter against “immediate termination of the fuel exemption”.

Price reduction became the flag of former boss Jair Bolsonaro (PL), who sacked three Petrobras bosses and encouraged exemptions to contain the increase, in a move that ended up becoming an irritant to his successor and rival.

Lula will meet tomorrow at 10 am in the Planalto Palace with Haddad, President of Petrobras and Minister of the Civic House, Rui Costa. The latter represents the political wing. Until now, the CEO has watched in silence as Labor publicly promotes Haddad and Jean-Paul Pratis. The manner of letting difference become general for him to arbitrate is the same as that which characterizes the other two conditions of the Labor Party. But Lula’s agenda this time confirms that he has given more space to the political wing of the government.

to survey Estadao It shows that during the nearly two months of his tenure, Lula held 83 private meetings with ministers from the political sphere, compared to 14 meetings with ministers from the economic wing. And there are ministers from the latter group who were not received as well Simon Tebbit (Planning). The president alone has been 33 times with the Chief of Staff, PT Rui Costa, and 11 times with Haddad.

The Labor Party’s criticism does not advance to a request to replace President Haddad or Petrobras. A topic that is not on Planalto’s agenda either, at least for now. Either because a change of government at short notice would cause wear and tear to Lula, or because there was no alternative. with a BNDES salary of BNDES, compared to a total of R$39,000 paid to economist Haddad Aloisio Mercadante It is already adapted to Rio.

The reason for the construction of Haddad’s preserving speech is in a possible new defeat. “When the transitional PEC was approved to amend the minimum wage, it was also the policy of the government and the finance minister. You can’t say: When it helps, it’s the government. “When it’s bad, he’s the finance minister,” said Tatu, who was Haddad’s secretary.

In an interview with EstadaoBut the Minister of Justice, Flavio Dino, revealed the reason for the criticism of the economic policy. For Dino, if Lula has problems with the economy, the far right led by Bolsonaro will return to the scene. Will Lula’s government improve people’s lives? If the answer is yes, then fraud tends to be a declining force. If the government encounters difficulties in the outcome, it opens the way for the emergence of a coup d’état.

last word

No wonder Lula made it clear that he would have the final say on the economic agenda. In a speech on December 2 last year, the Labor MP warned that he would have the final say on economic policy decisions. “I won the election. I want to be involved in economic decisions. I know what is good for people, and I know what is good for the market,” he said at the time.

Political scientist Carlos Melo sees more political independence for the Labor Party in relation to Lanalto than in the past. “Lula’s third government is a contested domain. He who rules and who decides. But the president has always decided through political calculations, and in this case, it would be no different. The difference is that Lula, today, after 580 days in prison, is more centralized than he is.” It was in his first reigns.

a Estadao They searched for Jellisi, Haddad, Galpolo, and Tippett, but they didn’t speak until the end of this edition.Colored rubber