Address by the President of the Republic, Michel Temer, during the Meeting of Brazilian Municipalities

First and foremost, I want to greet everyone, those in the panel and those in the audience. And I will refrain, Rodrigo, Glademir Paulo Vicosi... I will refrain from mentioning everyone's name because, after all, everyone has already been mentioned.

Secondly, of course, it is an honour to receive this tribute from the National Confederation of Municipalities, is it not so, Marinho? This is something that exalts us all. I would even say, that it is interesting, when you... They usually bring me a written speech to all events, but while talking to our municipalities I don't need a prepared speech, because I can speak with federative conscience. I speak with the heart, I speak with the soul of a Brazilian who knows that if municipalities are strong, the Union will be strong. I have no doubt of that.

And then I confess to you, interestingly... When I heard the various speeches here and, likewise, this extraordinary homage that is being bestowed upon me, Wellington, Rodrigo, the National Congress, and finally the Executive, I thought to myself: “It is interesting... if my government had done absolutely nothing else for the country, what we did for municipalities would have sufficed to make my administration worth it”. I have not the slightly doubt of that.

On the other hand, I want to... I'm going to make a joke with Paulo - OK, Glademir? -, which is as follows: he says he always came to pass the hat, in the various administrations. In my government, he came with a bucket, a very deep bucket didn't he? It's interesting that we can fill it, especially with those three spoonful’s we are affording today. There were supposedly 11 [Provisional Measures], seven were done, plus two or three now... But who knows, Glademir, Paul, everyone... who knows before the end I'll complete the 11 measures, right?

But I want to say that nobody does these things alone. First of all, you need a provocation, Mrs. Dalva, a provocation. And Brazilian municipalities, extraordinarily well united in this national confederation, have extraordinary solidity. Interesting, when I came here and looked at this building, which is made of cement, iron and wood, I was reminded of the municipality movement, which is also a very solid movement. It's made of iron, wood, cement. That's why you're seeking the federal government. This is the first point: you got our support and we got the support, all of you from the National Congress, because also, what we were able to do was with the support of the National Congress.

It's interesting to note one more thing, to all the friends who are here: our government is a government of... We, the government, executive, National Congress... our government is one of extraordinary speed. You see, we have two and a half years of administration and after having done everything that our administration has done in the last two and a half years, I say again, with fantastic speed... Look at the case of the Cuban doctors. The episode happened last week. Not a week went by, and Gilberto Occhi is here... After we talked, we took immediate action, which in fact will give jobs to more than eight thousand Brazilian doctors. This is the great reality, and will not leave any Brazilian municipality devoid of service. Obviously, per the measure Gilberto Occhi just announced here, you will see that there will be no... when there are vacancies, there will be no vacancy unfulfilled, because immediately that absence will be filled either by doctors with a Brazilian CRM [Regional Council of Medicine] registration or doctors with CRM registration obtained abroad, or even foreigners doctors who have a Brazilian CRM.

So, my friends, this government moves at extraordinary speed, and I think we can really put Brazil into the 21st century. Look, I'll tell you, I have absolute conviction that we have practised Brazilian democracy with a vibrancy in recent times that has been extraordinary. When Rodrigo Maia referred to the Constitution, what we are doing on the basis of the Constitution,

we must always repudiate any movement that aims at modifying... yes, modifying by constitutional amendment, but not substantially altering the Constitution on the ground that it does not serve the country. It has served the country quite well, so much so that we have come here thanks to the fulfilment of the juridical-constitutional order. So, when I participate in a movement of municipalities, it is interesting... This is something, it's interesting that these things, you do not create - and all the mayors, deputy mayors, city councillors here know this - it's something that you do not create from one day to the next in your spirit, in your heart, it is something that, from the first moment, is a conviction for you.

And on various occasions, I don't want to be, let us say, professorial here, to say that municipalities... The president [of the Confederation] had the kindness of putting on the plaque a sentence that is in my book on Constitutional Law, saying that the autonomy of Brazilian municipalities precedes Brazilian independence itself, before which towns and cities legislated and were administered according to local customs therefore enjoying autonomy long before the very existence of the independent State of Brazil. When the Republic came, especially, the recognition of autonomy did nothing but recognise what was already fact, didn't it? The municipalities were already ruling themselves. But over time, in the face of our extremely centralising culture, centralisation has come little by little.

With each new Constitution, new centralisation, and centralisation around the Union, around the Union in the figure of the Executive Branch. I think this was a work, a service, a task, that we all fulfilled according to the federative pact, as Paulo and Glademir said. Conscious of the federative pact, we began a decentralisation process, initiated precisely because of the idea of meeting the municipal postulates.

So I say to you with great pleasure, with great pleasure, that the democratic edifice, it depends a lot on this decentralisation because, you see, the idea of centralising is to bring to a single centre. The idea of decentralisation is to atomise, to spread the centres of government, and this is very compatible with the idea of democracy. In authoritarianism, what is done is to concentrate. In democracy, what is done is to de-concentrate, to decentralise.

So when I speak of municipalities, my friends, I say, interestingly... We did this work and I see that it is being recognised earlier than I expected. I imagined that this would come to be recognised later, once again by the tribute that you bestowed upon me, the National Congress, and all public agents. I see that this recognition is coming right away.

And I hope, dear President of the Confederation, I hope that next year, when I am no longer in the Presidency of the Republic, I can come here and receive the same applause that I received while in office.

So I will, in fact, always reiterate that the State always has a debt to be redeemed with municipalities, and we have to pay that debt. And I think what we say here - the press should record it - serves as a direction, a guideline, for those who, in fact, direct and will direct the Country. We have now gestured, in these elections, offered a gesture, once again, revealing popular sovereignty, which is exercised by vote. People go and cast their votes, by which they grant a power of attorney by electing those who want them to govern and elect those who want them to stay in the opposition, because whoever is going to stay in the opposition is also voted in, aren't they?

And both... That is why I have often said that there are two distinct moments in all public activity: a political-electoral moment, which takes place before the elections, so there are often controversies, contestations, contradictions, disagreements, even exaggerations. This is the political-electoral moment. But afterwards, when you elect the president, elect the governors, and public agents in general, you move on to a different moment, which is the political-administrative moment, in which, according to the Federal Constitution, everyone must unite in search of the common good, both the government and the opposition.

So, at this moment, my wish is that everyone unite, especially here, because at the end, to finish my words - I will not make a report here of everything we did in our administration... - but to finish my words, I want to ask for great applause for those who really deserve it, because they are the ones who have direct contact with the electorate, the ones who have direct contact with the public, the ones who, on the day to day, are stopped by the voter in the bar, in their home, wherever they are. I want my last word to be a plea for applause to those who are the pillars of Brazilian democracy, public agents called mayors, deputy-mayors and city councillors.