09/12/2023 – 16:31
The Minister of Agrarian Development, Paulo Teixeira (PT), defended this Saturday, 9th, that it is necessary to “free” the federal government’s Budget from amendments by Centrão, a political group that dominates Congress. In a speech to the party’s activists, he also asked that social movements continue to put pressure on the Planalto Palace. PT members’ criticism of Centrão occurs in a context in which President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva made alliances with parties such as the Republicans and the PP, which supported the Jair Bolsonaro government, to try to consolidate an allied base, mainly in the Chamber of Deputies.
“I want you to help push our government, our ministry, to organize our people, because politics is like beans, it only cooks in a pressure cooker”, declared Teixeira, citing a phrase coined by Frei Betto. The minister participated in the Electoral Conference held by the PT, in Brasília, which aims to debate the guidelines for the 2024 municipal elections. “If there is a ministry that has popular pressure, it is ours”, he amended, mentioning actions by the Workers’ Movement Landless Rural Workers (MST).
Teixeira said that the budget of the ministry he commands is “small”, but highlighted that the Lula government released resources for agrarian reform and the Food Acquisition Program (PAA). He highlighted the department’s actions focused on agroecology and stated that Lula wants to diversify food production in Brazil. “The farm menu has 15 products. The family farming menu reaches 1000 products,” he declared.
The PT member then began to criticize the dominant political group in the Legislature. “In the National Congress, Centrão imposes secret budget rules, which are now not so secret, but budget capture. We need to free up the budget for public policies in Brazil. To do this, there needs to be mobilization, and our deputies are such partners,” he said.
“We need to free the budget from these amendments, because these amendments had to come for agrarian reform, family farming, mechanization”, reinforced Paulo Teixeira. The minister also said that the “ruling class” in Brazil does not allow rural workers, peasants, quilombolas, indigenous people and the landless to have the right to land.
This Friday, the 8th, the PT approved the preliminary version of a political resolution that criticizes the Centrão. “The conservative and physiological forces of the so-called Centrão, strengthened by the absurd rule of the imposing budget in a presidential regime, exert disproportionate influence over the Legislative and Executive branches, delaying, embarrassing and even trying to deform the victorious political agenda in the presidential election”, says an excerpt of the document.
To approve his agenda in Congress, Lula made a series of ministerial changes throughout the year to include Centrão parties in the Esplanada. The government’s alliance with this political group included the move of André Fufuca (PP) to the Ministry of Sports and Silvio Costa Filho (Republicans) to Ports and Airports. Furthermore, the presidency of Caixa Econômica Federal was assumed by Carlos Antônio Vieira Fernandes, appointed by the president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL). The command of the National Health Foundation (Funasa) is also under negotiation.
This week, the rapporteur of the 2024 Budget Guidelines Law (LDO), Danilo Forte (União Brasil), presented his opinion with a series of measures that increase the power of Congress over the Budget and reduce the Planalto’s bargaining power in votes .
As anticipated the Political Broadcast of Estadão, the deputy established a calendar that obliges the government to commit (reserve for payment) all amendments by the month of July of each year. In the case of amendments in the areas of health and social assistance, execution, that is, the actual release of money, must also occur during this period.
Currently, the President of the Republic issues decrees that set monthly limits for commitment and payment of public funds. Imposing amendments – individual and state bench amendments – are currently mandatory, but the government is able to control the pace at which resources are released. With the tighter calendar established in the LDO by Forte, parliamentarians will be less “hostage” to the Planalto, in Forte’s view.
Parliamentary amendments are resources in the federal government’s Budget that can be directed to the electoral strongholds of deputies and senators to, for example, carry out works and implement public policies. In a year of municipal elections, as is the case in 2024, parliamentarians usually use this prerogative to try to boost candidacies from allies for city halls and council chambers.
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