ELECTIONS-BRAZIL: Mercosur, ‘Zero Hunger’ Lula’s Policy Priorities

By Mario Osava Reprint | | Print |

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct 25 2002 (IPS) - Strengthening regional alliances will be the focus of foreign policy, while laying the groundwork to eradicate hunger within a generation will be the cornerstone of social policy under the Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva government – if his predicted easy victory in Sunday’s run-off vote bears out.

The candidate of the political coalition led by the leftist Workers Party (PT) says he intends to build a Latin American alliance and maintain a strong position in all negotiations involving the United States.

Although the new administration – to be sworn in Jan 1 – will begin with a very tight budget, the PT government platform asserts that hunger can be eradicated within a generation with new development strategies and by working to maintain an average of four-percent annual economic growth.

There are nearly 10 million families "at risk" of hunger in this country of 170 million people. Guaranteeing adequate food for all would require boosting agricultural production, particularly that of family operations, that is, the peasant farmers, according to the platform.

To meet the "zero hunger" goal, rice and bean production would need to expand 30 percent, which would generate 350,000 new jobs. Agrarian reform does play a part in the effort, which is an investment in the country’s development and "not just another expense", says the PT.

A portion of the food supply, in response to the sudden increase in demand resulting from the government policy, could be obtained from the neighbouring Mercosur (Southern Common Market) countries, which have surpluses of wheat, rice and dairy products, for example.

Lula’s foreign policy strategy, meanwhile, could help liberate Mercosur – comprising the Southern Cone countries of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay – from its old disputes about the bloc’s route and its pace of integration.

In contrast, his rival, the social-democrat candidate of the governing coalition José Serra, has criticised any ambition to rapidly set up a customs union throughout the bloc, as defined in the Ouro Preto Protocol, signed by the four countries in December 1994 in the southeastern Brazilian city by that name.

The attempt to "do in four years what Europe did in 40", in reference to the creation of the European Union, is "unrealistic" given the persistence of numerous exceptions to the bloc’s common external tariff, argues Serra, the candidate backed by the Fernando Henrique Cardoso government.

Serra says Mercosur should concentrate on free trade, thus allowing Brazil and the other partners to sign bilateral trade agreements with other markets to expand each one’s foreign trade, a necessity revealed by the economic and social crisis that is affecting the entire bloc.

His position is similar to the one Domingo Cavallo promoted last year when he was Argentina’s Economy minister and which caused diplomatic friction with Brazil.

The conflicting Brazilian and Argentine approaches ultimately led to the deterioration of Mercosur, already weakened by the devaluation of the Brazilian real that Cardoso imposed in 1999 and by Argentina’s four-year economic recession.

The ruling coalition’s candidate also believes the concessions Brazil granted Argentina "went too far", particularly in the agreement for bilateral trade in the automotive sector, and criticises the inclusion of the two smaller Mercosur partners, Paraguay and Uruguay, with the same political powers in the bloc as the two larger economies of the bloc.

Serra irked officials in Argentina when he cited that country as an example of the chaos he said could occur under a future Lula government due to the inexperience of the PT candidate, a former metalworker and union leader who has never governed even at the municipal level, and has only a primary-school education.

Ironically, Lula and his leftist PT – despite being Cardoso’s political opposition – are closer to the current president’s stance than is Serra when it comes to Mercosur.

But Lula proposes greater advances for the bloc, such as building supranational institutions, including a common parliament, and dovetailing industrial, agricultural, trade, technology, education and cultural policies. His model is the European Union.

Macroeconomic convergence aimed at creating a common Central Bank and a single Mercosur currency are other goals of the PT candidate if he is elected president and sworn in on Jan 1.

Lula is following the leftist tradition of seeking integration that goes beyond trade to include cooperation in the cultural and social spheres, the objective being development "with effective income distribution to put an end to social inequalities."

Lula and the PT leadership have announced that they will propose a "regional integration pact" to the rest of the countries of Latin America, and particularly those of South America, keeping the "integral approach" at the forefront.

The PT’s government platform states that an alliance with neighbouring nations "is fundamental in order to confront the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA)," the hemisphere-wide trade zone currently being negotiated.

It is a strategy already put into practice by the Brazilian foreign affairs ministry, a government institution with a level of professionalism that has allowed it to adapt smoothly to changes in the presidency.

A future PT administration would not reject the negotiatons for creating the FTAA, but would engage in the talks defending national interests with the same determination with which the United States protects its own, asserts Lula.

He says the recent decisions in Washington to expand subsidies for U.S. farmers and agricultural exports, and to compel import restrictions in the trade agreements currently being debated does not bode well for balanced negotiations with the rest of the region.

The "national interests" that Lula would defend in FTAA negotiations would include Brazil’s social policies, including the efforts to eradicate hunger, fight poverty and sustain economic development.

The PT platform indicates that Lula would seek closer ties with countries outside the region as well, such as South Africa, China, India and Russia, to expand bilateral relations and to articulate efforts to "democratise" the United Nations, International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and World Trade Organisation.

In efforts to calm investor jitters, Lula has repeatedly stated that he would honour all IMF agreements, and Antonio Palocci, coordinator of the PT platform, upholds that approach, assuring that the "zero hunger" policy will not affect the balance of public accounts nor the fiscal adjustment measures agreed with the multilateral financial institution.

The hunger eradication programme is "important ethically and symbolically" because it confronts "the gravest manifestation of social injustice," Sergio Haddad, president of the Brazilian Association of NGOs, told IPS.

Social justice in Brazil has its foreign policy side as well. The new Brazilian government under Lula would embark on an "alternative development project" aimed at reducing the country’s vulnerability to global financial turbulence.

This would also require establishing a strong foothold for more balanced relations with the industrialised North, particularly the United States, as Brasilia and Washington vie for leadership in the FTAA negotiating process.

ELECTIONS-BRAZIL: Mercosur, ‘Zero Hunger’ Lula’s Policy Priorities

By Mario Osava Reprint | | Print |

Mario Osava

RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct 25 2002 (IPS) - Strengthening regional alliances will be the focus of foreign policy, while laying the groundwork to eradicate hunger within a generation will be the cornerstone of social policy under the Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva government — if his predicted easy victory in Sunday’s run-off vote bears out.
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