The right-wing Progressives (PP) party this week approved a declaration of “essential values” to guide its work in Congress, including some tenets that could hinder the agenda of the Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva government. A member of the PP recently joined the Lula cabinet as sports minister.
The seven-page document, approved Tuesday night by a unanimous vote by the party’s top brass, defends “religious freedom” and “family” — terms typically used by Brazil’s far-right as dog whistles to oppose same-sex marriage. This week, far-right lawmakers in a House committee tried unsuccessfully to hold a vote on a bill that would reverse the right to same-sex unions in Brazil, although they were not PP members themselves.
The document also defends “life from conception” and opposes the decriminalization of drugs. Currently, however, the main forum for discussing abortion and drugs is the Supreme Court, where legislators have much less influence.
The declaration also opposes “land invasions,” a reference to the Landless Workers Movement (MST), which is strongly associated with the Workers’ Party and is the target of an inquiry in the House.
The document also opposes tax increases and contains other anodyne points about defending health care, education, and inclusive welfare policies.
The PP currently has 49 lawmakers in the House — including Speaker Arthur Lira — and six senators, two of whom served as cabinet ministers in the Jair Bolsonaro government.
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