Lula promises consumer market to businessmen and says that Alckmin will be ‘true vice’

In a nod to business and tourism entrepreneurs, former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) said this Tuesday (12) that he intends to guarantee a stronger consumer market to boost the sector in a possible new government.

The PT also put former governor Geraldo Alckmin (PSB) in a leading role and said that he “will not be a toy deputy, he will be a real deputy”. The pre-candidate for vice president on Lula’s ticket is an important interlocutor for businessmen in the segment.

Lula and Alckmin participated in an event held by CNC (National Confederation of Trade in Goods, Services and Tourism), in Brasília, with around 200 businessmen and received a document with the entity’s proposals for the sector.

The meeting was closed, but the audio of former President Lula was made available by his press office afterwards.

In his speech, PT stressed several times that the growth of the economy depends on Brazilians having income to consume goods, services and even travel.

“I don’t know how commercial entrepreneurs imagine their future knowing that we have 30 million people who have nothing to eat. Knowing that you have 105 million people with some food insecurity problem. Knowing that people are unemployed, and those who are employed [estão] earning less than they did ten years ago,” Lula said.

“What I can guarantee for those who live on commerce, for those who live on tourism, for those who live on credit, is the market,” he added.

The former president did not detail what measures will be taken to ensure greater purchasing power for the population. But he drew on recent situations, such as people picking up scraps of food or eating chicken carcasses, to say that such a scenario makes it difficult for tourism and trade to resume.

Lula said that whoever assumes the presidency on January 1 will have at his command “a country infinitely worse” than on January 1, 2003, when he received the presidential sash from Fernando Henrique Cardoso (PSDB).

The PT also sought to position himself as a figure inclined to dialogue and willing to negotiate with the different sectors of the economy.

THE Sheet also had access to an excerpt of Alckmin’s speech. He stated that dialogue and development are needed, and that he sees in Lula the necessary skills for this.

“I want to give my testimony. I was governor three times with President Lula [na Presidência], always in opposition. We never had a conflict, on the contrary: cooperation, cooperation, which must be the hallmark of the Brazilian federation,” he said.

“In the eight years of President Lula, we had an average of more than 4% growth in GDP, and in the last year, 2010, 7.5% growth in the Brazilian economy, without inflation and with important reforms.”

“He [Lula] said that his vision is one of democracy, of understanding, of negotiation, and, obviously, that is what we want”, affirmed the president of CNC, José Roberto Tadros.

Last month, the CNC document was delivered to President Jair Bolsonaro (PSL) and Senator Simone Tebet (MDB), the MDB’s pre-candidate for the Presidency of the Republic. The meeting with Bolsonaro was also closed to the press.

The Confederation’s agenda is based on eight topics considered strategic: labor, union, tax, business, regulation, tourism, education and social welfare legislation.

At the end of the event, Tadros also said that he noticed in Lula a willingness to “meet the demands of both capital and labour”, in a reference to nods to both businessmen and workers.