HIGH POINTS
Bolsa Família and other programs
“We have already recovered almost all the social policies that existed in that country and were dismantled in the previous government,” congratulated Lula, referring to programs such as Bolsa Família, Minha Casa, Minha Vida or Mais Médicos, all of which are essential in the struggle against the country’s stark inequality and food insecurity that affects 33 million Brazilians. However, they all sound old-fashioned, having been taken from previous PT governments. Lula has already asked his 37 ministers to announce original programs.
Response to 8/1 and the Yanomami Crisis
Lula’s government spent the early part of its term dealing with unexpected crises: first, it ordered the investigation of those responsible for the January 8 attacks on the headquarters of the Three Powers in Brasília, and picked up the material, human and political shards of the plunder. It then promoted emergency actions and transferred more than the equivalent of 100 million euros to restore the dignity of the suffering Yanomami people and punish illegal mining.
“Tax framework” well received
Fernando Haddad was initially viewed with suspicion by everyone: by the markets, who saw him as too “petista”, and by the PT, who saw him as too close to the markets. In presenting the government’s fiscal rules – dubbed the “fiscal framework” – Lula’s finance minister reaped the rewards of his balance, receiving praise and signs of hope from Greeks and Trojans.
high diplomacy
On foreign policy, Lula has already met half the number of heads of state Bolsonaro has met in four years in 100 days of government. After Argentina and Uruguay and US President Joe Biden, he will travel to China in the coming hours and to Portugal and three African countries in the coming weeks. And at the invitation of Volodymyr Zelensky, after a conversation between the two, to Ukraine. Bolsonaro created friction with China, Norway, France and Arab countries and maintained an idolatrous relationship with Donald Trump, Biden’s predecessor.
LOW POINTS
Furious attacks on rivals
After winning the election with less than 51% of the vote, Lula vowed to pacify Brazil. But the magnanimous and generous president got lost somewhere in the campaign. “I will fight so that a genocide never wins elections on the basis of the lie industry,” he said while harassing Bolsonarians. “Everything we did was destroyed in four years, or rather, in six, four by Bolsonaro and two by the coup plotter Temer,” he said, attacking a moderate electorate he wanted to attract. “When the guards asked me if I was okay, I thought, ‘I’ll be fine if I… Moro,'” he said, turning the spotlight back on an enemy considered politically doomed. “The market has no heart, no sensitivity, no humanism, this citizen [Roberto Campos Neto, presidente do Banco Central] you don’t even have to talk to me,” he declared, receiving in return the interest rate retention of an incredible 13.75%. Sociologist Celso Rocha de Barros, in the pages of the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo, advised Lula to “forget the wars that have already been won” and to focus on “the war that the Brazilian people are still losing: rebuilding Brazil after the disaster”.
Doubts about growth
The World Bank forecasts GDP growth of 0.90% in 2023. And the forecast for 2024 has only increased from 1.40% to 1.48%. “I don’t agree with the negative assessments of GDP growth, I think we will grow more than this ‘zero point, I don’t know how much’ and that will depend a lot on the attitude of the government.”
crises with ministers
Juscelino Filho, Minister of Communications, used state funds to build the roads on his farm and travel by plane to a horse auction. However, dangerous political connections between Tourism Minister Daniela Carneiro and militia leaders were revealed. [máfia] From Rio. The two remained in office. In favor of Lula, the fact that he has not appointed any of them: they are both from União Brasil, a party that exchanged parliamentary support for the government between the two ministries.
Source: DN
