Michel Temer adopts explicit conservative measures to combat economic crisis in Brazil

Saturday, 4 of June 2016
By Pedro Carrion

Brazil`s interim president, Michel Temer, is on his way to show that his government has completely divergent ideas comparing to the suspended left-wing president, Dilma Roussef. In an attempt to recover Brazil`s flailing economy, the head-chief announced in the past weeks some conservative economic measures to continue curbing public spending, such as social programs and social security. 

Seeking for constitutional changes as an effort of containing fiscal deficit and regaining investors’ confidence, the current president of Brazil is now looking for approval in Congress to implement an array of measures. Due to the current situation, the President looks to reform the welfare system, which currently allows Brazilians to retire at the age of 54, and to make the Consolidation of the Workers Law (CLT) more flexible, which if implemented, would allow the employer to negotiate some workers` consolidated rights, such as the “13^th Salary”.

Also pressured by the business establishment to privatize state-controlled companies, Temer is calling the attention to the polemic decisions that he has been making. Being the first leader in decades to have no women or Afro-Americans in his cabinet and nominating polemic figures to his ministry, he started his government with a big reproval from the left side.

To make matter worse, a scandal over recordings suggested that one of his right-hand men pursued the fall of Roussef’s government in an attempt to control the investigations of “Lava-Jato” – the biggest political scandal in modern history.

With less than one month after the impeachment of Dilma Roussef, the country seems to continue to be completely polarized as a result of this huge economic and political crisis. Despite the major unpopularity of the ex-president and the Workers Party, it is undeniable that most Brazilians also have bad feelings about the interim-president. According to a public survey conducted by Datafolha, 58 percent also want Temer to be impeached.

With about two months to improve the country’s economic situation without adding fuel to the fire in the streets, Temer needs two thirds of the Senate to vote for the definitive removal of Dilma Roussef to guarantee his place in the presidency.

While the road to economic recovery will be a long and potentially arduous task, the political tension is far from over.