On 1 June, the Congress approved the provisional measure (MP) that restructures the government. However, even though the MP was proposed by the government, this was not a complete victory for them, which had to accept undesired changes proposed by the Federal Chamber. This approval process also represented another ordeal that the central authorities had to face in Congress due to lack of political support. Before that, a series of other episodes took place showing Lula’s third term fragility.
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The MP
The MP reorganizes the federal government and creates new ministries, such as Culture, Industry and Indigenous Peoples. If it was not approved by Congress on 1 June, the MP would have expired. If this had happened, the structure would have kept the design established by the previous government, with 23 ministries instead of 37.
Changes
Despite escaping defeat in the Chamber, the government had to give in to the initial plan and accept some changes, like the recreation of National Health Foundation (Funasa), a body coveted by different parties for political appointments. Competences of bodies that are currently in the structure of the ministries of the Environment Ministry went to that of the Agrarian Development and of Indigenous Peoples will be transferred to other ministries. Most changes were motivated by the interests of agribusiness, which is represented by the Parliamentary Front for Agriculture (FPA).
Trouble in the Federal Chamber
The government’s low support in the Chamber forced Lula to personally speak with parliamentarians in order to approve the MP. He promised to speed up the release of amendments and appointments to positions in the face of pressure for more space in the government. Chamber President Arthur Lira (PP) warned that he will not list projects of interest to President Lula until the deputies assess that the government has delivered their demands.
Previous Defeats
The government suffers for the formation of a robust parliamentary base. Due to that, it has accumulated a series of defeats. Lula’s team was unable to contain the signatures for the opening of a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) in the Chamber to investigate the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST). It gained momentum after a series of invasions by the social movement. This CPI is seen as the most damaging to Lula, since he and the movement are historical allies.
Another defeat was the creation of the mixed CPI that investigates the facts that occurred in the attacks on 8 January, in Brasília. The opposition wants to use the commission to attack what they call the federal government’s omissions that day.
In April, Lula edited a decree to revise the sanitation framework, sanctioned by Bolsonaro in 2020. About a month later, the Chamber overturned the changes made by the federal government.
Another issue where Lula had yet another defeat was the approval of the bill for the timeframe for the demarcation of indigenous lands. The landmark thesis, defended by the FPA, determines that indigenous lands must be restricted to the area occupied by the peoples on the date of promulgation of the Constitution.
