The inclusion of a ministry at the request of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva pushed the announcement of the spending cut package to the middle of the week, said this Monday (11) the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad. According to him, the reduction in spending for the other portfolios was defined on Sunday (10) in a meeting between Lula and several ministers at Palácio da Alvorada.
“Of the ministries that were at the table all last week, we concluded the debates with them. The acts are already being carried out and forwarded to the Civil House. We will wait for a position from this ministry on Wednesday that the president asked to include in the fiscal effort”, said Haddad upon leaving the Ministry of Finance at around 7:20 pm.
This afternoon, Haddad met alone with President Lula at the Palácio do Planalto. The meeting, off the agenda, ended shortly before 6pm. This Tuesday (12), the Minister of Finance will meet again with the President of the Republic to define how the measures will be forwarded to Congress and discuss how they will explain the package to the presidents of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (PP-AL) , and from the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG).
“Tomorrow [terça-feira] In the afternoon, we have a meeting with the president [Lula] about forwarding [do pacote] for Congress. Fourth, whether or not we receive the green light for this request from the president [para incluir um ministério nos cortes]”, added Haddad.
Last week, the minister had said that the package would consist of a proposed amendment to the Constitution (PEC) and a complementary bill.
Without committing to a release date, Haddad said that it will be up to President Lula to decide the timing of the measures.
According to the minister, discussions with the Ministries of Labor, Social Security, Social Development, Health and Education are concluded after Sunday’s meeting. Although Haddad spent the weekend in São Paulo, the department’s executive secretary, Dario Durigan, represented the minister at the meeting at Palácio da Alvorada.
Dehydration
Haddad stated that the two details that remained to be defined by President Lula were completed last week. Regarding the stance of ministers and sectors of the PT who criticized the package, the minister said that the discussions are part of the democratic debate and denied that the proposals had been dehydrated over the last week.
“To be quite honest, the debate went very well. There were adjustments, there were improvements incorporated, yes. But I wouldn’t call it dehydration, on the contrary. I think it makes the measures more understandable, more palatable. We understand that the process was very beneficial”, he declared.
Chances of approval
Saying that he believes that the PEC has a chance of being approved later this year, despite the long processing of proposals of this type, the minister highlighted the importance of cutting mandatory spending in improving the quality of public spending, reducing inflation and allowing sustainable growth in the economy. economy.
“That guideline that we announced from the beginning of this process of strengthening the fiscal framework, of bringing into the fiscal framework what might not be behaving in the way we expected, is to consolidate this transition. From a regime of high deficit and low growth to a regime of fiscal balance with sustainable growth”, commented the minister.
