Lula to define names for cabinet after trip to Egypt

President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on Wednesday (Nov. 9), in his first press conference after the elections, he will only start choosing his ministers ten days from now, when he returns from his trip to Egypt and Portugal.

As a guest of the Consortium of Governors of the Legal Amazon and the President of Egypt Abdul Al-Sisi, Lula will participate in the Egyptian resort of Sharm El-Sheik, in the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 27). The president-elect will arrive in Egypt on Tuesday (15) and returns to Brazil on November 18, after a one-day visit to Portugal, on his way back to Brazil.

The president-elect said he is concerned about the formation of his cabinet, but he did not mention names. "I'm more worried than you are, but I can't tell names yet," Lula explained.

Vice-President-elect and coordinator of the transition team Geraldo Alckmin has announced its first members. It will have 31 technical groups in specific areas. Alckmin explained these members are not related to future ministers.

Budget

Lula said he is confident about the approval of the Transition Constitution Amendment Proposal (PEC), whose purpose is to adjust the 2023 Budget to ensure financial promises made during the election campaign, such as the BRL 600 monthly allowance under the Auxílio Brasil cash transfer program for needy families, and medication initiative Farmácia Popular, a program for the distribution of free continuous drugs. He also said the heads of the House of Representatives Arthur Lira, and the Senate Rodrigo Pacheco, have shown a willingness to deal with the proposal in meetings held on Wednesday (9).

The National Congress must keep in mind that the beneficiaries of social programs are the neediest part of the population, Lula said. For him, "there is no point in saving money to pay interest to bankers (...). Hospitals, free medication, and education are not expenses. They are investments," he emphasized.