Lula meets with ministers and Speaker of the House to discuss fiscal package after week of friction

President Lula (PT) met on the morning of Saturday the 14th with government ministers and the head of the Chamber of Deputies, Hugo Motta (Republicans-PB), amid pressure to overturn measures introduced after the rollback of the Tax on Financial Transactions, the IOF . The meeting was not on the presidential agenda.

Also present at the meeting was federal deputy Arthur Lira (PP-AL), who left the leadership of the House in January but remains influential in Parliament. The meeting at the Palácio da Alvorada ended after noon. According to sources, Lula called the meeting last night, with an eye on trying to pacify relations between the Executive and Legislative branches.

In recent days, the government has seen harsh reactions to the package of measures announced by the Ministry of Finance . The MP and the presidential decree published on Wednesday 11 foresee, among other things, an increase in taxation on bets , fintechs, incentivized public bonds and interest on equity, in addition to changes in the collection of Income Tax on investments.

Some of these measures had already been presented to party leaders last Sunday, the 8th, in a meeting at the official residence of the Chamber. Motta and Minister Fernando Haddad were optimistic after the meeting and stated, in a press conference, that the meeting was “historic” and favored dialogue.

The climate of peace, however, did not last even 24 hours. The following day, the head of the Chamber stated that Congress had not committed to approving the new package.

Throughout the week, faced with the negative reaction from the market and public opinion, Motta hardened his tone and sent the message to Planalto that the measures would have difficulty being approved, especially after a decision by the Supreme Federal Court regarding parliamentary amendments.

On Thursday, the congressman from Paraíba announced on his social media that he will focus on the urgency of the project that overturns Lula's decree on the IOF rates . For the opposition, the objective is to try to overturn both decrees together (the initial one and the one that reverses it) and return the rates to their initial level.