The president (PT) called Ricardo Couto an “intervenor” of Rio de Janeiro, when referring to him during the signing ceremony of the agreement (Program for Full Payment of State Debts), on the morning of this Monday (22).
The judge is acting as interim governor of the , but allies of the former governor () have classified the magistrate’s stay in the Executive as a type of intervention by the (Supreme Federal Court) in the . The assessment, shared in reserve even by allies of (PSD), is due to the fact that the decision subverts the .
At this Monday’s ceremony, Lula and Couto also exchanged compliments. “All I want is that, when fulfilling your task as intervenor of Rio de Janeiro, the people know that they cannot elect anyone who does not do what you are doing: take care of the people of Rio de Janeiro. Therefore, congratulations, governor. May God give you all the luck in the world and may you become the governor who made the necessary corrections for the government to work”, said the PT member, who was hoarse and gave a brief speech.
Lula has made nods to Couto. At an event at the end of May, he stated that “this man will help fix Rio de Janeiro”.
Before, at this Monday’s ceremony, Couto had already said that the federal government had “a great team” and thanked the president for Propag.
According to Lula, Propag is “a civilizing agreement”.
“What we are demonstrating here today is that a lie that existed in this country has ended. The states had a debt with the federal government. The federal government did not receive this debt, and the states could not make investments. Neither the Union benefited nor the states”, he stated.
“Rio de Janeiro is no longer the capital of the Republic and in the national press on the police pages. Rio would have to be looked after with great care because we all know that the face of Brazil in the world continues to be Rio”, said the president.
The ceremony to celebrate the agreement took place at Palácio Guanabara, headquarters of the Rio de Janeiro Executive. Propag is the federal government program that allows the refinancing of states’ debts with the Union through counterparts.
Adhesion is a bet by Rio de Janeiro to try to alleviate the fiscal imbalance. Couto’s administration has promised measures to attack the deficit in local accounts, initially predicted by the LOA (Annual Budget Law) at almost R$19 billion in 2026.
Lula’s departure from the state’s Tax Recovery Regime to join Propag. The Rio de Janeiro Finance Department declared at the time that the debt with the Union was R$203.3 billion.
The federal government estimated that, with adherence to Propag, the payment of the state’s debt would fall to around R$113 million per month, with gradual growth over five years. Currently, the state makes average disbursements of approximately R$490 million per month.
