Source: Noblat Blog, 05/12/2007

From Luiza Damé and Martha Beck:

The worsening of the political situation and the lack of votes in the Senate to approve the extension of the CPMF until 2011 forced President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to postpone the trip to Bolivia for five days. Lula spoke by phone with President Evo Morales and suggested transferring the visit to that country from the 12th to the 17th. In a meeting last Monday, the Minister of Institutional Relations, José Múcio, asked Lula to cancel the agenda in South America , next week, to enter the CPMF negotiation.

At first, Lula resisted, but ended up accepting the argument after a new conversation with Múcio, yesterday. The government currently counts only 47 votes in favor of the CPMF, based on 53 senators. 49 votes are needed to approve the proposal. Lula continued, however, to travel to Argentina and Venezuela. The allies want him to look for dissident senators from the governing base, such as Pedro Simon (PMDB-RS), Romeu Tuma (PTB-SP), César Borges (PR-BA) and Expedito Júnior (PR-RO).

Yesterday the Minister of Finance, Guido Mantega, added another element to the prescription of government pressure to approve the CPMF. He said that if the extension is rejected, the government will have to reduce the Union's primary surplus next year. Thus, according to him, to meet the 2008 target - 3,8% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) - a greater fiscal effort by the states would be necessary, which could be done by reducing the authorization of expenses for governors. Read more at O ​​Globo

The governor of São Paulo, José Serra (PSDB), denied yesterday that he tried to convince PSDB senators to vote in favor of the CPMF in a meeting with the also toucan governor of Minas Gerais, Aécio Neves.

- We didn't try. I advocate a positive solution for things because I am not on the “worse is better” line for anyone. Not when it was opposition, nor as a government. This issue is within the scope of the Senate - said the governor, who opened yesterday the seminar "How to improve the business environment", at the Faculty of Economics and Administration (FEA) of the University of São Paulo (USP).