Monday, January 3, 2011

Rousseff starts his term with a continuo the Economic Team

The president of Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, wanted to send a message of confidence to investors with a continued strong economic team, who shall take measures, inter alia, monitor the elusive fiscal discipline, curb public spending and curb inflation 5%. Much of the contributors to the new president come from the team of his predecessor, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

Three key figures are his chief of staff, Antonio Palocci, the powerful former economy minister who was awarded the merit of having won the confidence of investors in the early years of the mandate of Lula, Guido Mantega, a longtime adviser to former president now assumes the portfolio of finance, and Alexandre Tombini, who will become President of the Central Bank with a commitment to keep inflation under control and ensure the autonomy of the entity.

In total, 16 of the 37 ministers have held portfolios Rousseff Lula (ten in the last government). Some analysts say this is still the Lula government, Dilma, and that within a year or two the new president will begin to form his own Cabinet. In an unprecedented event in the democratic history of Brazil, the new president will have a majority in Congress.

A dozen parties supported the candidacy of Rousseff, which now has the backing of 372 of the 513 deputies and 60 of the 81 senators, more than three-fifths required to amend even the Constitution. That figures. In the specific circumstances of each day, the president will have to demonstrate much skill set policy and waist to ensure, in the important and decisive vote, the loyalty to the coalition government.

Lula da Silva, who was called "political glue" for its flexibility to deal with the parties in Congress, suffered in his flesh the disloyalty of its allies, which prevented him from carrying out some institutional reforms. The question is whether the former guerrilla, of strong character, which likes immediate results, you have the patience for the sometimes endless negotiations with the Congress, always looking for grants and fees.

The biggest unknown is the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), the main ally of the Government, which has got 89 deputies and 16 senators. In the distribution of ministries, the PMDB, which has never presented a presidential candidate and has always ruled the winner of the day, has received six ministerial portfolios, which had with Lula, but less political and economic weight.

The PMDB and promises, only quietly for now, revenge at the polls if you are not the most favored. Dilma The advantage is that its vice president, Michel Temer, has led the PMDB and was three times president of the Congress, besides being considered a skilled politician to put out fires.

The new president has wasted no time and yesterday was at nine o'clock in his office receiving the major foreign leaders who had attended his inauguration. The first was Prince Philip. Actually, I was scheduled second, after Hugo Chavez, Venezuela's president, who left yesterday without waiting for an appointment and without explanation.

At the meeting, 40 minutes, Prince Philip and Rousseff recalled that Spanish companies are already very active in sectors such as telecommunications, banking and energy. The president urged Spain to work more in a country "full development", citing the 2014 World Cup and the Olympics in 2016 as the occasion for Spanish companies to invest more.

Rousseff promised help to make Brazil a Portuguese-Spanish bilingual country. The Brazilian president met also with Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates, who said his country's support to Brazil to get a permanent seat on the Security Council of the UN. Rousseff was also the president of Uruguay, José Mujica, the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, the South Korean Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik, and Cuban Vice President Juan Ramon Machado.

Posted by Manlio Gandolfi at 2:46 AM

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