After the military’s rudeness to Lula, the vice president of Brazil guarantees passage

The vice president of Brazil, Hamilton Mourao, received his elected successor, Geraldo Alckmin, in Brasilia on Tuesday, e guaranteed the disposition of the governing party complete the transition process from the government of Jair Bolsonaro towards the inauguration, on 1 January, of the elected president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

“The transition is underway. We met Alckmin and everything is going well. President Bolsonaro does not participate in the transition”Mourao told reporters after receiving the vice president elected under the transfer of administrative functions from the executive branch.

Bolsonaro decided not to participate of the transition after being defeated in the elections of October 30 by Lula, leader of the Workers’ Party, who will assume his third term after having governed two terms between 2003 and 2010.

This was the first face-to-face meeting between Alckmin and Mourao, elected senator, facing the change of government. And it coincided with the spread of versions, which have not been denied, that the commanders of the three Brazilian armed forces, who surprisingly decided to leave their posts at the end of December.

tense weather

according to the newspaper Folha de São Paulothe decision was allegedly made in a meeting with Bolsonaro and as a reaction to the future president’s nomination of a civilian to head the defense ministry.

In the midst of a tense climate, with the president almost absent from the public scene and market expectations for whoever will take over the reins of the economy from January, the two vice presidents – the outgoing and the elected – spoke of the steps to follow in the coming month.

Until now, Bolsonaro has not publicly acknowledged Lula’s victory and has maintained a reduced agenda.

“Alckmin called me on the phone, asked if he could come here for a coffee, and that was it, everything was normal,” retired general Mourao said.

“I explained to him what our structure is in the Vice Presidency, the attributions, which are the consultancies on which he has free decision, given that other consultancies are designated by Itamaraty (Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and by the Armed Forces,” he said, according to the newspaper . or globe.

The passage is mandatory, it is regulated by law and it does not depend on the political acceptance of the electoral result. The meeting between Mourao and Alckmin is protocol, but also functional, since it allows for the unification of the criteria for the delivery of the information necessary for the decisions of the future government that will take office in January.

The transition team is working in Brasilia under the command of Alckmin –a veteran centre-right politician who was Lula’s rival and now his ally – and has groups that deal with specific issues such as the economy, justice and the environment, among others.

key chord

Meanwhile, after weeks of negotiations, the Senate has given the green light to a project that will allow expand the 2023 budgetas requested by the Workers’ Party.

This is the Constitutional Amendment Project (PEC) sent by the president-elect, which provides for an increase in social spending in the future administration.

The PEC, which provides for an increase in funds of the order of 18 billion dollars, was sent to the Senate on Monday evening and this morning obtained the 27 signatures of lawmakers needed to be processed in that chamber. The text proposes to amend the constitutional provision that set a ceiling on public spending during the government of President Michel Temer (2016-18), for 20 years.

With these funds, Lula intends pay for the social assistance program called Bolsa Família, a sign of their previous governments, and from which approximately 50 million citizens will benefit, as well as other initiatives aimed at taking care of the most needy population.

Because it is a reform of the Magna Carta will need a special majority of 3/5 of the Senate and after 3/5 of the Chamber, a quota that the coalition of parties that supports Lula is very far from reaching.

If the Pec is not approved until mid-December, it will be left out of the legislative calendar and the next government will start without this crucial provision for the implementation of social policies.

Source: AFP, ANSA and Clarin

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