Amid the crisis involving Ernesto Araújo, senators began the week by further increasing pressure on the government and the foreign minister, presenting the Chancellor’s impeachment proposal and threatening to block all ambassadorial appointments.
The senators are preparing a request for dismissal of the holder of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which will be filed this Monday afternoon (29) in the Chamber of Deputies – Legislative chamber which has the competence to analyze the impediment of ministers of state. The document is being prepared by Senators Alessandro Vieira (Cidadania-SE), Leila Barros (PSB-DF), Randolfe Rodrigues (Rede-AP) and Simone Tebet (MDB-MS).
On another front, the leader of the minority, Senator Jean Paul Prates (PT-RN), presented a draft resolution which proposes the suspension of appointments of ambassadors to the Senate. The appointments are analyzed by the Senate External Relations Committee, then voted on in the plenary session of the Chamber.
“Brazil’s foreign policy is left to an individual who, as amply demonstrated during the public hearing held in the Federal Senate, the fourth [24], does not meet the minimum conditions to represent genuine Brazilian interests on the world stage, ”says an excerpt from the project.
The document still calls the government’s foreign policy “disastrous” and argues that it is necessary to focus on tackling the pandemic, which has already killed more than 300,000 people in Brazil. For this reason, he talks about the importance of partnering with initiatives to temporarily break the patents on the coronavirus vaccine, in addition to strengthening bilateral relations with countries such as China, the United States, Russia and the United States. ‘India, in order to obtain vaccines.
The crisis between Ernesto and the Senate took on new proportions this Sunday (28), after a publication on a social network, in which the Chancellor attacks Senator Kátia Abreu (PP-TO), president of the Committee on foreign Relations. The chancellor hinted at a Senate affair with the Chinese lobby for 5G, which he said was behind the pressure to remove him from his post.
“On March 4, I received Senator Kátia Abreu for lunch at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Courteous conversation. Little or nothing spoke of vaccines. At the end, at the table, she said:” Minister, yes you make a move in relation to 5G, he will be the king of the Senate. “I did not make any gesture,” he wrote on Sunday.
Then he added: “I ignored the suggestion even because the topic of 5G depends on the Ministry of Communications and the President of the Republic himself, who is responsible for the final decision on the matter.”
Kátia Abreu reacted to the attacks and called the minister “marginal”. “Brazil can no longer continue to have the face of an outsider in front of the world. Someone who insists on living on the margins of good diplomacy, on the margins of the truth of the facts, on the margins of balance and on the margins of respect for institutions ”, declared. “Someone who attacks the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate for free and unnecessarily.”
Ernesto’s post also provoked a reaction from several senators, including the Speaker of the House, Rodrigo Pacheco (DEM-MG), for whom the minister’s posture is doing the country a huge disservice.
“The attempt by Minister Ernesto Araújo to disqualify the competent Senator Kátia Abreu reaches the entire Senate. And it is precisely at a time when we seek to unite, add, pacify the relations between the powers. This constant disintegration is a great bad service for the country, ”he wrote on social media.
Pacheco had already said last week that he considered Brazilian foreign policy “flawed” and called for changes. House Speaker Arthur Lira (PP-AL) also criticized Ernesto and directly indicted him during a meeting in Alvorada, with the heads of the three powers, ministers and governors.
In a meeting Thursday, with the participation of the Chancellor, senators were virtually unanimous in pointing out Ernesto’s lack of capacity and calling for his departure. None of the heads of government in the Senate were present to defend him.
In the hemicycle, the pressure for the departure of the minister is also increasing. This Monday morning, Lira traveled to Alvorada to meet with President Jair Bolsonaro. The case was not disclosed, but interlocutors with the mayor claim the MP denied dealing with the chancellor at the meeting.
First Vice-President of Credn (Chamber of Foreign Affairs and National Defense Commission), Deputy Rubens Bueno (Citizenship-RP) maintains that Brazilian foreign policy resumes “its tradition of respect for principles, of strengthening relations with our partners , including China ”, and do not neglect“ traditional relations with the United States and Europe ”.
“For now, we need to step up our search for the main input the world is fighting for: the vaccine,” he said. “The time for this erratic and ideological policy of Ernesto Araújo must pass, as well as his command at the head of Itamaraty. Opportunity for the government to pragmatically correct the orientations of the economic, social, commercial and health development of the Brazilian population. “
Marked by ideological stakes, the minister’s management is severely criticized by businessmen and politicians from the left, the center and the right.