Rousseff Asks for the Return of CPMF Tax and Is Booed in Congress

02/03/2016 - 10h00

President Dilma Rousseff was booed eight times and received a series of provocations as response from part of the lower house of Congress to the speech in which she called for unity and cooperation to approve measures she considers essential to get the country out of the crisis, such as recreating the CPMF (tax on financial transactions).

Allies drew applause for the president 13 times, some of them coincident with the booing.

The willingness of the President to personally go to the opening ceremony of the legislative year, on Tuesday (2), did not contain the momentum of opposition lawmakers who are on the front line of defense of her impeachment. Since being elected, this was the second time Rousseff was willing to attend the ceremony. The first was in 2011.

The gesture was trumpeted by Rousseff's aides as a sign of "humility" and willingness "to dialogue" at a time when she struggles to overcome the political and economic crisis, which obstructed her second term.

The president arrived surrounded by several ministers and was welcomed by the president of the Supreme Federal Court, Ricardo Lewandowski, the president of the Senate, Renan Calheiros (PMDB-AL), and the speaker of the lower house of Congress, Eduardo Cunha (PMDB-RJ), her foe.

In the plenary session, Rousseff began reading her speech, which lasted about 40 minutes. The president gave an account of what she considers achievements of her term and stressed several times that she counted on the "partnership" with the Congress for the country to make the "transition" from the moment of fiscal adjustment for the resumption of growth.

Rousseff's speech was interrupted several times, especially when she advocated recreating the CPMF tax as the faster way to improve the country's finances. "The CPMF is the bridge between the necessary urgency of short-term and the necessary fiscal stability in the medium term," she said.

When part of the people in the plenary responded with boos, the president asked the lawmakers to judge the matter based "on data, not opinions". She said the resumption of tax would be a "temporary" measure and "in favor of Brazil." Rousseff touched on other sensitive points.

She defended the pension reform, criticized even by her party, PT, as a necessary measure not for her government, but for the balance of the country's finances in the long run.

After reading her speech, the president had to hear messages of the president of the Senate and the speaker of the lower house. Although softening his critical tone, stating that the lower house will not shirk from analyzing any proposal sent to the National Congress, Cunha recalled the political difficulties faced in 2015 and stated that 2016 will be even "more difficult".

The jibing tone was maintained by Renan Calheiros, who referred to 2015 as "the year that has not started, nor finished." "I urge the Brazilian parliament to resume its efforts to have in 2016 a year with beginning, middle and end."

At the end of the event, asked about the receptivity of the Congress, Rousseff said that it was necessary "determination and hope in the face of difficulties." "I found the receptivity great. I had an absolute obligation to be here," she added.

Translated by MARINA DELLA VALLE

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	Adriano Machado - 2.fev.2016/Reuters
	Dilma Rousseff walks past by sign that reads "No CPMF (a financial transactions tax", as she arrives to the session of Brazil's Congress