Lola avoids meetings with business people. PT has no government plan

Without a ready-made government plan, the former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (EN) Runs away from meetings with business people. The Labor member avoided public discussions with the executives to avoid dissatisfaction of the Allies before there was consensus on the proposals to be made in the dispute over the Planalto Palace. For these events, Lula had to recruit closer supporters.

Under the condition of reservation, members of the ex-president’s preliminary campaign stated that he was contacted by economic agents, especially from the financial market. However, Lula is relentless about participating in open conversations that might involve scrutiny of the presence of potential upset.

At an event promoted by XP Investimentos this month, for example, the former president appointed former health minister and current federal MP Alexandre Padilla as the envoy. Estadão has found that he has dealt with issues dear to Faria Lima, such as labor reform, which Lula has already criticized and is now talking about reviewing. Padilla said the business community will be part of the discussions on this topic.

Padilla said he was “invited as a former minister of political coordination and current federal deputy.” He also participated in another event for the company last month in the United States. “In Washington I was in this situation (a former minister and deputy) and in the list discussions, like Labor Guilherme Millau (Unicamp economist),” he said. The deputy said he did not know that Lula was avoiding discussions.

booked up

However, the Allies confirmed Lula’s strategy. Former Governor Wellington Dias said, “He’s been approaching (the economy) in more conservative conversations. For more open agendas,[President Jair]Bolsonaro would send his people there, and they would walk around and say everything differently.” Lula’s organizers and advisors.

Dias also stated that Lula wants to “hear and understand more about the challenges companies face in every area,” from small to large. “(The former president) is concerned about the impact of inflation, high interest rates and low income on the economy, which poses great difficulties for entrepreneurs, who are the ones who generate job opportunities,” he added.

Among the events that Lula has already declined is to participate in the BTG CEO Conference in February. The bank confirmed that Lula rejected the painting promoted by the institution. Seeking comment on the strategy, the Labor press office declined to comment.

Despite the elusiveness of businessmen, the former president took part in the events with his supporters, already attacking, for example, the spending cap – a constitutional rule limiting increased public spending to inflation, which is today the only financial anchor in the country. On Friday, he met again with social movements in São Paulo.

closed doors

For closed-door meetings, Lula turned to former allies in the business world. One of them is Jose Ceriberi Filho, better known as Jr., founder of Qualicorp, a health insurance broker. At Junior’s home, for example, a private dinner was held with Lula and Fernando Haddad – a pre-candidate for the government of São Paulo – and businessmen such as the president of BradescoLuis Carlos Trabuco, and CEO Claudio Ermerio de Moraes at Futurantem, in February.

The meeting was revealed by O Globo and confirmed by Estadão. In the conversation, according to a source who attended the dinner, Lula said he is willing to look ahead and leave disagreements in the past. Junior, Trabuco and Moraes did not speak.

Lula also met XP Investimentos CEO Guilherme Benchimol in private last month. On social media, the businessman said that the meeting was “institutional” and that he would meet with other presidential candidates. Without Lula, another loyal ally, businessman and former minister Walfrido Mares Guia, had a conversation with the XP Board of Directors during which he advocated for the PT and its governments. And Alfredo did not reply.

strategy

Closed meetings with selected guests will continue until Lula coordinates his government plan with the Allies. “Our idea is to develop a smaller program,” said PSB President Carlos Sequeira, after a meeting to discuss the proposals in São Paulo.

During the event, via video, former minister Aloisio Mercadante said that the Labor Party should reveal the government’s plan only at the beginning of the campaign, in August. According to him, there is a risk that Bolsonaro, who is still in office, will “steal” the offers. He stated, for example, that Labor and Lula publicly advocated the measures to help those Fies debtors, and that the federal government liberalized a temporary measure providing for student debt negotiation.