Brasília, January 27, 2004 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - Even though he considers ministerial changes normal, the vice-leader of the government in the Chamber of Deputies, Sigmaringa Seixas (PT-DF), regretted the departure of the Minister of Education, Cristovam Buarque. "I would have liked him to have had more time to demonstrate his proposal for Brazilian education," he said.

On the other hand, the vice-leader regards the attempt by the PT of the Federal District to obtain compensations for the loss it suffered as political "provincialism." Nevertheless, Seixas approves the party's attitude of demanding greater direct participation by the party in the government to help President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

The departure of Buarque and three of the Ministers from Rio de Janeiro - Miro Teixeira (Communications), Benedita da Silva (Assistance and Social Promotion), and Roberto Amaral (Science and Technology) - produced a series of criticisms by legislators from the two states.

The president of the party in Brasília, Wilmar Lacerda, criticized the way in which Buarque was dismissed. In the PT-DF's interpretation, the departure of the ex-Minister and the accession of Eunício Oliveira (PMDB-CE) strengthen Governor Joaquim Roriz, who is affiliated with the PMDB.

In Rio de Janeiro, Senator Roberto Saturnino demanded economic and political compensations for the state in return for its losses. "The time has come for the population of the state of Rio to remind the President that the state needs economic compensations, since it has effectively been the victim of discrimination in the last decades, and it was also in Rio that the President received the highest percentage of votes in the country," the senator said.

The government's new leader in the Chamber, Miro Teixeira, considered feeble the assessment that his state emerged weaker as a result of the Cabinet reform. "I think that nobody can feel weakened. Government policies are what is important," he said. The Administration is endeavoring to get the ex-Minister to join the ranks of the PT in the state of Rio. (DAS)