'We can't look at the photograph without seeing the film. And the film is positive,' says Padilha regarding the drop in government approval ratings.

247 - The Minister of the Secretariat of Institutional Relations of the Presidency of the Republic, Alexandre Padilha (PT), stated this Monday (18), the date on which the president Lula (PT) holds the first ministerial meeting of 2024.He added that the drop in government approval ratings – evidenced by opinion polls – cannot overshadow the progress made throughout 2023. "We have experience governing the country at other times. We can't look at the snapshot without seeing the whole movie." 

"The film portrays a government that reduced unemployment, achieved growth rates no one thought possible, controlled inflation, recreated a secure economic environment for investments, repositioned the country globally, saved democracy (along with the press, Congress, and society), revamped social policies, and has a different, non-denialist stance, unlike the previous government, regarding various problems and challenges facing Brazil. A very important piece of data has just been released regarding..." Reducing deforestation in the Amazon"This is the biggest reduction in the last six years. So, we have a very positive picture. And we have the snapshot of the moment, which cannot be ignored, from these polls, which shows an oscillation in some segments, which are important segments that gave the victory to the president, regions that gave the victory to President Lula, other segments where we had expanded the dialogue last year and now there is a reduction. So we have to look at this snapshot carefully, attentively, not denying that it exists, but without losing sight of the picture as a whole. So in today's meeting with the president, he will review the picture, review the progress that has been achieved, he will demand and support the municipalities so that the progress reaches the people, but without losing sight of this picture, which is very positive," the minister assessed in an interview with GloboNews.

According to Padilha, at Monday's meeting the president aims to "have a global vision of the government." "Last year was the year of sowing, we approved what we had to approve in Congress, we recreated the social programs. This year is the year of harvesting. President Lula very much wants to have a more concrete diagnosis of what was announced last year and is reaching the population. He is a president who demands results. He has a stance of wanting to know if what was announced is reaching [the population] or not."

According to the minister, the drop in government approval is related to the impact that the government's measures are – or are not – having on the population. "A central question is to see to what extent what we managed to approve last year is reaching people. Our focus has to be on the extent to which what was announced is already reaching people, is already changing people's lives, and what needs to be done to reach even more people."