Fernando Henrique Cardoso: Brazil needs to get reorganized

Former President Fernando Henrique Cardoso said this Monday (Aug. 8) that Brazil needs to get reorganized to resume economic growth. Although recognizing the delicate political uncertainty surrounding the country, he said he believed in a solution for medium term. However, to achieve this result, he considers necessary to change the culture of our society.

"The idea that everything can be arranged is not true," added the former president, during a lecture delivered at the opening ceremony of 36 Annual Supply Chain Management Conference, in São Paulo.

Cardoso noted that for the third consecutive year, Brazil is experiencing negative economic growth rates because of misguided policies. Without citing names, he stated that a reason for the low performance would be the use of an only populist strategy of credit expansion, adopted by his successors to stimulate consumption.

The former president defended the need for actions based on predictability studies, with investments in infrastructure and in line with global markets. For him, the bad side of deepening political and economic crisis is related to the large number of parties in the country, to which he admitted his own fault. When pointing out his participation in the Constituent Assembly, he reported that at that moment, their concerns were more linked to the need of a break from the military regime.

According to Cardoso, as they have not imposed a limit on the number of new parties created, "a feeling of anarchy" was evoked.

He also said the challenge now is to change the culture of our society and fight against political excesses. "We are going through a delicate moment, a moral crisis, and the [Brazilian] knack is unacceptable. The 'slush fund' [scheme] and those responsible for it must be punished. "

In the former president's view, equal rules for everyone is a precondition for democracy. In this sense, he said, society no longer wants the executive privilege being used as a maneuver to disclaim any responsibility.

Translated by Amarílis Anchieta