By Arkady Petrov
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – In an interview with Bruno Góes and Eduardo Bresciani, in the June 3rd edition of the newspaper O Globo, Chamber of Deputies President Rodrigo Maia (DEM/RJ) has declared he “does not know” how his relationship will develop with President Jair Bolsonaro (PSL), who he claims is leading Brazil towards social collapse.
“We’ re headed in the wrong direction. We need everyone to cooperate using their [institutional] attributions, especially the Executive and Legislative branches, building agendas beyond Social Security, so that we can take care of Brazilians who are finding themselves more and more in a situation that I have labeled as social collapse. We are moving very fast towards this social collapse,” he said.
According to him “an agenda for Brazil is missing” and it is clear that the Social Security reform, which is put forward by the government as a response to all the ills of the country, “will not solve anything on its own”.
“Now, to escape from the trajectory (of collapse), the government will need to go far beyond where it has gone until now. It will have to consider important projects in the area of infrastructure, legal security policies in many areas, to have the courage to face challenges,” he said.
Maia minimized the demonstrations on May 26th in defense of Jair Bolsonaro, showing him as one of the main targets of Bolsonaro supporters. “It was a demonstration by the government attacking those who can help the government’s agenda.”
Rodrigo Maia also criticized the announced “pact” agreed by Bolsonaro in a meeting with him, Senate President Davi Alcolumbre (DEM/AP), and Dias Toffolli, Presiding Justice of the Federal Supreme Court, which would prioritize social security and tax reforms, among several topics.
Read the full Globo interview here.