Anti-coping package stalls, and only network regulation advances – 04/15/2023 – Politics

Almost three months after the Ministry of Justice and Public Security presented a package of measures to the Presidency in response to the January 8 coup attacks, only one of the issues has advanced, with the fake news bill.

The other proposals, such as the creation of a national guard for the Esplanada and the Praça dos Três Poderes and the hardening of punishments for those who violate the democratic rule of law, are still pending, under analysis by the Civil House.

The ministries officially deny the Sheet that proposals have been abandoned. They say that the texts need thorough analysis.

According to members of the Executive, priority was given to what was most important among the proposals: the regulation of social networks.

This subject had an easier path because there were proposals in this sense already being processed in the National Congress, under the rapporteurship of an allied deputy, Orlando Silva (PC do B-SP).

The Lula administration preferred to incorporate suggestions into the Fake News PL instead of starting a new procedure. The government’s latest version was forwarded on March 30, following the attack on a state school in São Paulo that resulted in the death of a teacher.

The Executive’s text includes, for example, an entire chapter on the protection of children and adolescents, which requires the adoption of adequate and proportionate measures to ensure a high level of privacy, data protection and security.

The idea is that the project rapporteur incorporates some of the suggestions sent by the government into his opinion. According to the mayor, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), the expectation is that the project will be voted on the 26th and 27th of this month.

Palace assistants made a point of emphasizing that the adjustments made to Orlando Silva’s text had the involvement of several departments, not just Justice and Public Security.

Civil House, SRI (Secretary of Institutional Relations) and Secom (Secretary of Social Communication) are working on this jointly with Flávio Dino’s ministry.

The government seeks to prioritize in Congress, in addition to the provisional measures that are about to expire, the economic agenda, with the fiscal framework and tax reform. It is not in Planalto’s interest that many projects with the potential to cause noise start to be processed in the Houses now, at a time when the government does not have a consolidated base.

One of the fears is that these themes, with a certain amount of controversy and that bring political polarization back to the surface, could result in the loss of important votes for the approval of the agenda of the economic team.

The assessment of palace interlocutors is that, in a month, the Planalto will know more precisely how many votes they have in Congress. Until then, work to accelerate the distribution of second and third-level positions to centrão parties.

Pressured to present responses after the coup attacks on January 8 carried out by supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL), Flávio Dino delivered to Planalto a set of two bills, a provisional measure and a PEC (proposed amendment to the Constitution ).

They are: creation of a national guard responsible for protecting the Esplanada and the Praça dos Três Poderes; regulation of social networks, on the grounds that it is necessary to prevent the internet from being used to disseminate anti-democratic content; tougher punishments for those who violate the democratic rule of law; and streamline the process of loss of assets following court decisions.

Since then, a group was created to analyze the measures in the Civil House. Palace assistants say, on the one hand, that the texts change several norms and that a detailed, careful analysis is needed.

The proposal to create a national guard, for example, was promptly criticized by the then acting governor of the Federal District, Celina Leão (PP), who had taken over the post with the removal of Ibaneis Rocha (MDB), and by almost all of the parliamentarians of the federal capital.

In addition, the Lula government and its allies are also trying to turn the page on January 8th, even to bury the opposition’s attempt to sign the CPIs (parliamentary commissions of inquiry). Arguing in favor of the Dino package could thus end up having a side effect.

On the other hand, these palace assistants say that it is necessary to observe the political timing for the measures. Without a consolidated base in Congress, Minister Alexandre Padilha (Institutional Relations) is looking for center parties and even members of opposition parties “at retail” to help the government on central agendas.

At the same time, the number one priority is to ensure the analysis of provisional measures, whose joint committees have generated and continue to generate a dispute between the Chamber and the Senate.

In addition, from a programmatic point of view, the government needs to approve the new fiscal rule, which is the calculation that will replace the spending cap, which limits expenditure growth to the previous year’s inflation.

The measure is President Lula’s campaign promise and should be sent to the Chamber next week, after the submission of the LDO (Budget Guidelines Law).

Already presented by Fernando Haddad’s economic team, it proposes that the growth of federal expenses be limited to 70% of the increase in revenues projected for the same year. It also provides for a range for the primary result target each year, as a kind of band for fluctuation.

The primary result is obtained from income minus expenses. Today, there is a single goal defined annually.

Then, still this semester, the government wants to approve the tax reform, which foresees, among other points, the simplification of collection. Thus, five taxes on consumption would be transformed into a single IVA (Value Added Tax).

When contacted, the Civil House and the Ministry of Justice gave similar responses to justify the package’s little progress, highlighting the complexity of the proposals and the need for a more detailed analysis.

“The initiatives mentioned in the questions are complex and require discussions to mature and, subsequently, be presented and implemented”, informed the Civil House, in a note.

The portfolio commanded by Rui Costa adds that there was no “withdrawal or abandonment” of the aforementioned projects.

Along the same lines, Justice informed that the texts sent to the Presidency concern complex themes, which demand study and internal discussion. “As soon as this process of study and discussion is finished, the package will be sent to the National Congress”, he says in a note.