Padilha says that Ministry of Health will not be negotiated

The Minister of Institutional Relations, Alexandre Padilha, said, this Monday (19), that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will not place the Ministry of Health as a quota for any party and that the nominations for the portfolio will be technical. After meeting with President Lula, at Palácio da Alvorada, Padilha denied that the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira, from the PP, had claimed the nomination of the Minister of Health. “I want to be fair with President Arthur Lira, both for me and President Lula, at no time did President Arthur Lira claim any ministry, in any of the conversations he had did he make any kind of claim to the Ministry of Health or another government ministry federal,” he said. “President Lula, at no time since the assembly of his government, since the choice of ministers, has placed the Ministry of Health as a party quota of any party. From the beginning, President Lula made a decision about the Ministry of Health, especially after the whole situation in the pandemic, due to the importance of the health issue, of wanting to indicate to the Ministry of Health a public health framework. He chose a woman [Nísia Trindade], the first woman to occupy the Ministry of Health, chose the former president of Fiocruz, for all the role she played during the pandemic”, added the minister. According to Padilha, the government is talking to the political parties of the allied base, especially União Brasil, about their nominations for positions in the government. In recent weeks, the name of the Minister of Tourism, Daniela Carneiro, who is from União Brasil, has been on the discussion table, especially after the minister filed a request to go to the Republicans without losing her mandate. In addition to Tourism, União Brasil, one of the largest benches in the Chamber, with 59 deputies, is in charge of two other ministries: Communications, with Juscelino Filho, and National Integration, with Waldez Góes. For the time being, President Lula keeps Daniela in office. Padilha explained this Monday that it is “a desire already expressed by the leaders of União Brasil” to reformulate the ministries that have party nominations. According to him, “there is no pressure” or request for the resignation of Minister Daniela Carneiro. “It is absolutely natural that a party that nominated names for the ministry, three ministries, might, at some point, want to re-discuss this composition”, he said. “This is part of democracy, of the political debate, there is no pressure, including on Minister Daniela Carneiro,” he said. Agendas for the week Padilha met this Monday morning with President Lula to go over the week’s agendas in the National Congress. According to him, the environment is positive for the approval of the nomination of lawyer Cristiano Zanin for the vacancy in the Federal Supreme Court (STF), in the Senate. He will undergo sabbatical next Wednesday (21). “I passed on to President Lula this positive environment in the Senate, not only with senators who already make up the government’s base, but the name of the nominee being very well received also among senators from parties that are part of the opposition. That is, it is an environment that we have the expectation that, once again, senators and senators will separate very clearly, dedicate themselves to analyzing the legal quality, legal competence, the commitments with institutionality, with the Constitution that have been reaffirmed by the nominee, Doctor Cristiano Zanin”, said Padilha after the meeting. The minister also mentioned the favorable environment for the appreciation of government projects that are on the voting agenda, such as the provisional measure to recreate Mais Médicos, in the Senate, and the bill that updates the Food Acquisition Program (PAA) , in the camera. The government is also monitoring the processing of the new fiscal framework, in the Senate, and the progress of the work of the Joint Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPMI) of the Coup that will begin hearing testimonies this week.

Agência Brasil