Despite having been appointed as possible ministers in a possible government of ex-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), Guido Mantega and José Dirceu deny the possibility of assuming portfolios.
In the case of Mantega – who headed the Economy in 2006, during Lula’s second term, in 2015, with Dilma Rousseff as president –, the statement was made to Bloomberg, in an interview released this Monday (31).
“I don’t intend to go back. The economy has cycles. If the economy doesn’t work, it’s the minister’s fault. I was in government for 12 years straight. I have already given my share,” he said. Before assuming the portfolio, Mantega even held the positions of Minister of Planning and president of BNDES.
To Bloomberg, the former minister also admitted mistakes in his management as finance minister (as the position was called until the government of Jair Bolsonaro).
As an example, he cites government intervention in the energy sector in an attempt to contain electricity prices in 2012. “That didn’t work. They fell and you had many investors in Eletrobras. In fact, I think we made a mistake there,” he said.
Lula’s intention to nominate Mantega as minister was raised more strongly from an article published in Folha de S. Paulo, in the first week of 2022, in which Mantega accuses Bolsonarism of leading Brazil into crisis.
The newspaper invited the presidential parties to present their ideas on economics and the PT chose Mantega to write.
In the publication, he criticizes what he calls a “fierce contractionary monetary policy”, referring to the continuous increases in the Selic rate, in a move by the Central Bank to contain the escalation of inflation. According to him, one of the effects of this policy will be the paralysis of the Brazilian economy and the consequent rise in unemployment.
In addition to this article, the former minister, who has spent the last few years hidden from the spotlight, has returned to active participation in public discussions this year.
Already José Dirceu, who was Chief Minister of the Civil House during the Lula government and whose possible presence in an eventual Lula government has been raised, above all, by President Jair Bolsonaro, also said this Monday (31) to Folha de S. Paulo that he did not intends to integrate an eventual PT government.
“I won’t be,” he said when asked by the newspaper column. “This Bolsonaro does not take care. He can’t even name his own and already wants to play a role in a future government. It’s a lot of arrogance,” Dirceu said.
Dirceu was convicted of corruption in 2012 in the monthly allowance process. In 2016, within the scope of Lava Jato, he was sentenced to more than 30 years in prison for corruption, receiving improper advantage, money laundering by the then judge Sergio Moro.
Mantega, on the other hand, was denounced for corruption and money laundering in Lava Jato and sentenced by Moro. With the annulment of the decisions of the 13th Court of Curitiba by the Federal Supreme Court, the action was sent to Brasília, where it was rejected.
Source: CNN Brasil
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