Miriam Leitão: With the key to the safe, Guedes cannot assume political coordination.
According to journalist Miriam Leitão, despite the understanding between the Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes, and the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Rodrigo Maia, "the idea that Guedes could be the articulator of the pension reform in Congress is another mistake," since "whoever is in charge of the Economy Ministry holds the purse strings"; "If he is the one who will coordinate the political forces in parliament, evidently the requests will be more expensive," she says. "There needs to be a political minister at the forefront," she assesses.
247 - According to journalist Miriam Leitão, despite the understanding between the Minister of Economy, Paulo Guedes, and the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Rodrigo Maia, "the idea that Guedes could be the articulator of the pension reform in Congress is another mistake. He will have to be present, but he cannot play that role. Whoever is in charge of the Economy Ministry holds the key to the treasury," she emphasizes in her column in the newspaper O Globo.
"The National Treasury is within his area of responsibility. If he is the one who will coordinate the political forces in parliament, then obviously the requests will become more expensive. I'm not talking about improper requests, but about the normal financial and fiscal demands for states and regions. A political minister needs to be at the forefront," he assesses.
"Due to his temperament, style, and the nature of his position, he cannot be in charge of coordinating the political maneuvering for the approval of the reform. That's what political ministers are for. And, as I've already said here, the president has an unavoidable role in uniting the base. Bolsonaro, in addition to shirking this role, is doing the opposite of what he should, as he has insistently demonstrated in recent days," the journalist points out.
Read full of the column.