PEDRO LUPION (PP-PR): “The return of productive land invasions is a setback”
The president of the FPA, deputy Pedro Lupion (PP-PR), stated that the bench will also support urgent requests for the processing of bills that identify invasions of productive lands as terrorism and increase the penalty for these actions.
Last week, the president of the FPA had said that the MST invasions had generated “noise” in the attempt to bring agribusiness closer to the Lula government. The federal deputy said he did not agree with the posture of mediation of the conflict adopted by the Executive, but recognized that there was a change in tone of some ministers, who began to condemn the movements.
Both the Minister of Agriculture, Carlos Fávaro (PSD), and the Minister of Agrarian Development, Paulo Teixeira (PT), condemned the invasions.
At the head of the largest group in the National Congress, with 344 parliamentarians, Lupion also defended the need for “minimum conditions” for dialogue between the FPA and the government, for the construction of public policies for agriculture, despite ideological differences with the PT, party of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
We spoke with the federal deputy, Pedro Lupion, about this and other priority matters of the Agricultural Parliamentary Front (FPA).
Check out some excerpts from the conversation below:
BRAZIL 61: How has the Agricultural Parliamentary Front (FPA) viewed these invasions? And what does the bench think of the position of the Ministry of Agrarian Development and Family Agriculture (MDA) and the federal government?
Department Peter Lupion: A real setback, this is something that Brazil has not seen for a long time and that does not fit in the middle of 2023. Society does not accept it, there are no conditions to justify the invasion of private property, of productive property, it is a true absurdity. The government began very timidly to position itself, but it did. It is important to note that both Minister Paulo Teixeira (MDA) and Minister Fávaro (MAPA) spoke against the invasion of productive land. But the strong hand of the President of the Republic and the government is still missing to say: stop this, which is harming the country.
BRAZIL 61: Did the MST invasions generate “noise” in the attempt to bring agribusiness closer to the Lula government?
Department Peter Lupion: See ideologically we will never be allied with this government. The ideology is completely different from what we defend, from what we think. But building bridges is necessary. It is obvious that we have been demanding and asking the government to react and react strongly. There’s no reason to allow that to happen. By the way, there is a caveat and congratulations to each of the governors who have acted. It is not the case of Bahia, that the governor of Bahia is not complying with the repossession. But more than ten governors in the country have already positioned themselves against any type of invasion of private property and that is a law, it is in the Constitution and in the Penal Code there is not the slightest condition for anyone to accept this.
BRAZIL 61: How does the FPA intend to act in relation to the Land Invasion CPIs? What is the role that the front has taken in relation to the proposals?
Department Peter Lupion: Well, the CPI is not ours, okay? The CPI is from the three parliamentarians who presented, Ricardo Salles, Kim Kataguiri and Zucco who is the author of the request that prospered. We at the FPA help collect signatures, we understand that the investigation is important, but we are also doing other things. We are urgently working on project 8262/17, which deals with the removal of invaders and also improves the penalty, increases the penalty for possessory dispossession, removes those responsible for invasions from government social programs. We also have that Fraga project on terrorism, based on terrorism. We did the information requests to find out where the funding is coming from and who is organizing these invasions. So we have several lines of work within the Agricultural Parliamentary Front itself to make sure that we can stop this wave of invasions that is unprecedented in Brazil and has not been seen for a long time. And it is not the time, 2023 is not the time for us to see a retrograde section and a setback like this.
BRAZIL 61: Now about the Tax Reform: what is the main claim that the caucus wants to advance?
Department Peter Lupion: Well, first make clear the differentiation of rates that is extremely necessary. Today, we cannot understand that it is not harmful to Brazilian rural producers, a single rate within the production chain. I think this is the main point, we need to make clear in the Constitution the differentiation of agricultural activities, because today we really need to make our contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) not punitive, but positive when it comes to respecting an important sector like ours. Today I have competitiveness issues, for example, with wheat, which is a reality, and completely different issues with beans, rice, coffee, or even products that are industrialized, that is, we have within the same whole complex , which is the Brazilian production chain, Brazilian agriculture, we have primary products and we have processed products. All of this has to be differentiated, this is our major concern. We cannot make a calculation of the tax burden on the rural producer, if we do not have a different rate. And detail, of all the countries that were evaluated, more than 40 countries that our technical work group evaluated here, which today have VAT, a consumption tax, only four of these countries do not have a difference in the rate, that is, it is I’m talking about countries that are not producing countries. I’m talking about Denmark and Estonia, countries that are importers. And for us it is already a big concern, I cannot understand how a Tax Reform would work without different rates.
BRAZIL 61: The bench met with the rapporteur for the proposal in the Chamber, deputy Aguinaldo Ribeiro (PP-PB), and with the coordinator of the work group, Reginaldo Lopes do (PT-MG), how are these articulations going to be successful industry proposals?
Department Peter Lupion: I think a lot depends on our ability to articulate politics and negotiate this. We are concerned about other moments of tax reforms. We are talking about Tax Reform in the country since the Constitution. That is, the commitment, concerns and perhaps in the last two years, three years there has been a greater intensity in relation to the intensification of these discussions on Tax Reform and agribusiness, the sector has always been a little sidelined in this regard. There are many theories that this reform belongs to the financial sector, this reform belongs to the industry, this reform is harmful to our sector, so we need to do it, make ourselves heard. This is the front’s political articulation and this political support from the front with this demonstration of strength, practically daily, obviously means that we are heard. Today the secretary heard topics, for example, such as the integration of poultry farming, for example, which is something that worries us a lot. There is a whole specific tax issue in this sector. The integrated producer, that integrated producer who receives the freight or feed, he is not a buyer of anything, he fattens and delivers this product, that is, he receives for a service provided. How will this taxation be? These are extremely specific themes that the secretary himself was unaware of. So, we’re going to need to have a lot of conversation to be able to reach some common denominator and be able to effectively give the support and political strength of our front in support of this reform. Now it’s obvious. We had a meeting with the working group that was more of a presentation, we still haven’t had a technical meeting with other parliamentarians. And it’s no use wanting to take the 345 parliamentarians from the front and put them in a room to debate, because we won’t be able to have a debate. We are listing some parliamentarians who are closer to the subject – of tax legislation and the parliamentarians will be participating daily in the working group and participating in these discussions so that we can achieve our objectives and that is what we are working on.
BRAZIL 61: The FPA has already placed as priorities in Congress the draft Law on Agricultural Defensives, Land Regularization and Environmental Licensing, which are in the Senate. Will these guidelines advance or will the focus only be on Tax Reform?
Department Peter Lupion: We have a large bench, now there are 44 senators who joined the Parliamentary Front. That never happened. And now under the coordination of Minister Tereza Cristina in the Senate, I believe that things will move forward.
By Brasil 61
