Serra praises Dilma for the first time. Abroad
José Serra moderates his discourse regarding the president in an interview with the Spanish newspaper El País, days after publishing a document with harsh criticisms of the government; the text was poorly received by PSDB leaders, who advocate for a moderate opposition.
247 – Former São Paulo governor José Serra is beginning to refine his discourse regarding President Dilma Rousseff. The PSDB politician praised the president in an interview published this Thursday in the Spanish newspaper El País. The praise was measured, full of reservations, and made amidst several criticisms, but Serra acknowledged that the president did what was necessary to combat the corruption cases that emerged at the beginning of her government and that "cost her two key ministers, Antonio Palocci and Alfredo Nascimento," the newspaper highlights. "Provoked by the press," the politician added. This is already a lot for someone who published a document just a few days ago (entitled "Our Mission") stating that the Dilma government is marked by "incompetence and authoritarianism" and that "the PSDB will not renounce denouncing these acts."
The text of “Our Mission,” published without the party's approval, came out in a tone more forceful than imagined by PSDB leaders, who did not endorse the document in the party's Political Council. Serra defended himself by saying that he did not write the text to submit it to a vote, but so that it would serve as a “basis for discussion.” In any case, the interview with El País marks a break in the relentless series of criticisms that the defeated presidential candidate in 2010 has been making against the government since the beginning of the year. Is Serra moderating his discourse to move closer to the dominant position in the party?
In the interview, the former governor also praises the president's foreign policy, saying that it started well, especially regarding respect for the defense of human rights. But he adds: "the president's positions have become ambiguous and this impetus in favor of human rights has been diluted." While in Madrid to participate in a meeting organized by the IE Business School, Serra, described as the leader of the opposition by El País, said that the problem of corruption in Brazil has never been so serious and that the PT (Workers' Party) has lost control of the system of exchanging favors, exacerbated by the party.