02/01/2024 – 10:41
Contrary to the pessimistic forecasts that marked the beginning of the Government, the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, managed to end 2023 with economic numbers beyond expectations and approval of the tax reform. Even with his performance considered outstanding within the government, which places him as a strong candidate to succeed the PT, the minister stated that he does not plan on placing himself as a candidate for President after Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The statement was made in an interview with the newspaper The globe published this Tuesday, 2,
“Lula was president three times. It will probably be a fourth”, said Haddad, making reference to an attempt at re-election in 2026. The minister said that, while it is “an asset to have a political figure of this stature for 50 years at the disposal of the PT”, it is also It's a big challenge to think about the “day after”, referring to a name to replace it.
Haddad stated that he did not participate in internal PT meetings about the possible succession and that, for 2026, there is consensus within the party and the allied base for Lula to run for a fourth term. “She is pacified. There is no discussion”, he stated on the issue.
According to him, the problem of a successor “will arise” in the next election, warning that the party needs to start preparing for the transition.
With 47 million votes in the 2018 presidential elections, Haddad said that the situation in which he ran was atypical and began to be decided in jail, while Lula was in prison.
“No one wanted to be Lula’s vice president”, stated the minister, who at the time was committed to making Ciro Gomes (PDT) or Jaques Wagner (PT) alternatives for the running mate. Mainly Jaques, as he is part of the PT, stated the minister.
Jaques Wagner, at the time, disallowed the inclusion of his name among the PT's likely “B” plans while Lula's candidacy was in place. There have been conversations with Ciro since February of that year, discussing possible rapprochement between center-left parties before the formal start of the campaign.
In the interview, Haddad made considerations about the government's current political articulation. He assessed that the relationship with the Minister of Institutional Relations Alexandre Padilha “is happening”, and recalled that the two have a long-standing working relationship, at São Paulo City Hall, and were colleagues in the ministry.
“They say that the worst job in the world is that of the Minister of Finance, but there is a competitor, that is Padilha”, he joked.
With the president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), Haddad said that the relationship started well because the situation was a crisis, when the transition of government was carried out by the Legislature, something unprecedented, since “the Executive disappeared”, he said , referring to the previous government. According to Haddad, “people understood what was at stake” and unity was fundamental to ensuring democracy. “We are not discussing who will win the championship. We are discussing whether there will be a championship, because, if we don’t understand each other, we won’t make it to June.”
The good relationship was fundamental for a series of reforms and proposals to be approved in Congress, leveraging the minister's name, even if, for him, Lula takes the credit. “'Inflation fell, employment rose. Long live Lula!' And Haddad is an austericide”.
In the interview, Haddad also spoke about the government's economic proposals, emphasized the approval of the tax reform on consumption taxes, which still needs to be regulated, and indicated that the Income Tax reform could be delayed until 2025. “The challenge of approving it in 2024 the IR reform is that, as we have municipal elections, there is a window problem, which will have to be evaluated by politics”, he said, highlighting that the regulation of the first part of the proposal needs to be voted on first.
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