According to Ferro, Dilma should carry out a cabinet reshuffle.

PE247 – Federal Deputy Fernando Ferro (PT-PE) defended the need for a ministerial reform in the administration of President Dilma Rousseff (PT). After a 27 percentage point drop in the approval rating of the Dilma government, settling at 30%, according to a Datafolha poll, the congressman stated that the reform would not involve reducing the number of ministries, but rather changing the names of those occupying the ministries, with the aim of improving the government's political coordination. 

“It’s not a matter of reducing the number of ministries. I think it’s a matter of changing the names of the ministries. I think there needs to be an update in some areas. We have some problems with political coordination and we need to learn lessons from this moment,” Ferro stated in an interview with Rádio Folha.

The proposal from the congressman bears a certain resemblance to that advocated by Senator Aécio Neves (PSDB) from Minas Gerais, an opponent of President Dilma in the next election. Neves argues that the number of ministries should be reduced from 39 to 22 to optimize investments.

The defense of government reform by parliamentarian Fernando Ferro comes amidst a scenario in which the PT leadership is discussing the government's political strategy. Members of the government's base had already been demonstrating dissatisfaction with the way the head of the federal Executive branch interacts with her allies. Complaints intensified with President Dilma's proposal to call a plebiscite to authorize the creation of a Constituent Assembly to discuss political reform. But the government backed down on the project.

Political reform, as well as other types of reforms, came to the forefront after thousands of people took to the streets in various cities across the country to protest and demand improvements in the implementation of public policies, targeting the Legislative and Executive branches. Ferro had already argued that protesters should also direct their criticism at the Judiciary. The congressman's stance was yet another indication that the avalanche of protests increased the dissatisfaction of President Dilma's allied base, which, after the drop in her government's approval ratings, is seeing a growing clamor for her predecessor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, to return to the helm of the Planalto Palace.