Agro bench wins creation of PEC compensation commission

At the same time that the National Congress announced the postponement of the session to vote on vetoes by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) on the bill on the time frame for the demarcation of indigenous lands, the Chamber of Deputies approved the installation of a Commission Special to discuss the Proposed Amendment to the Constitution (PEC) 132/2015, which allows compensation for owners with lands demarcated as indigenous, called the PEC of indemnities.

The vote on Lula’s vetoes on the time frame, which should have taken place this Thursday (9), was postponed until the week following the November 15th holiday due to the leaders’ lack of understanding. “We had a list of around 50 vetoes [além dos vetos ao marco temporal]. The leaders wanted priority of one veto, another, in addition to highlights. So, this agreement was not reached [para votação]”, explained the president of the Parliamentary Front for Agriculture (FPA), deputy Pedro Lupion (PP-PR).

He considers that the postponement was good, as from November 22nd the voting agenda of the National Congress will be locked. This means that other matters cannot be voted on before the time frame is analyzed. “What we could not admit is that there would be a veto session in which our veto [do PL do marco temporal] wasn’t. So, with his guarantee being [na pauta] For us there is no problem when it will be voted on”, reinforced Lupion.

Lira creates a commission to discuss the PEC of compensation

Meanwhile, progress in the processing of PEC 132/2015 also ensures that Congress’ attention remains on the agenda of the demarcation of indigenous lands. The president of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), authorized the operation of a special commission that will deal with the proposal. From now on, party leaders must nominate 34 full members and an equal number of substitutes to discuss the matter.

Although the original text of the PEC only talks about compensation, parliamentarians can change and include articles in order to resume the discussion about the time frame, for example. Despite the possibility, this may not be the strategy used, as any change in the text will make it necessary for the PEC to be reviewed again by the Federal Senate, which already approved the compensation proposal in 2015.

Sources linked to the FPA also indicated that the PEC has gained supporters even within the government. The assessment is that the proposal would block demarcations, as the government is unable to pay for the value of the lands that would be expropriated, in addition to being a way of resolving the issue through monetary means, without entering into the ideological issue.