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"We
know we have to be fiscally responsible," Lula told a room full
of supporters in Portugal's capital Lisbon. "We cannot spend
more than we earn ... but we also know we can spend to do
something profitable, to make the country grow, to improve
(it)."
Brazilian markets slumped this week after Lula's incoming
administration proposed exempting some 175 billion reais ($32.51
billion) from the spending cap on next year's budget to pay for
welfare programmes.
Lula shrugged off market reaction to his proposals and again
criticised the spending ceiling.
Leftist former Sao Paulo mayor Fernando Haddad, who has recently
emerged as the front-runner to be finance minister, was also at
the event in Lisbon.
"We are going to put Brazil at the prime of development and
social justice," Haddad said. "We have an internal challenge in
Brazil: to do more and better than we have already done on other
occasions."
Lula said he would like to form a government with "more people
from society, from other parties" and those free from party
affiliations.
Leftist Lula defeated right-wing incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in a
tight presidential runoff in October. In Lisbon, where he met
government officials on Friday, Lula promised he would "recover
the country".
Since last week, the president-elect has rattled financial
markets with speeches in which he underscores the priority of
social spending over fiscal responsibility.
Brazil's current Economy Minister Paulo Guedes said on Friday
the perceived conflict between social needs and fiscal
sustainability revealed a lack of knowledge and inability to
solve problems.
Lula governed Brazil from 2003-2010 and his government's social
programmes pulled millions of Brazilians from poverty. He spent
time in jail on corruption charges that were later annulled,
allowing him to run for office again.
Lula said that although his party defeated Bolsonaro in last
month's presidential race, far-right ideology was still very
much alive in Brazil.
"We defeated Bolsonaro," he said as supporters cheered in
Lisbon. "(But) Bolsonarismo is still alive and we need to defeat
it ... Let's defeat it, but not using the methods they used
against us.
"We don't want persecution ... violence. We want a country that
lives in peace."
($1 = 5.3827 reais)
(Reporting by Catarina Demony; Editing by Kirsten Donovan, Ros
Russell and Catherine Evans)
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