Barroso welcomes Haddad to discuss FGTS correction

The Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, should meet on Monday night (16) with the president of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), Luís Roberto Barroso, to talk about the action that calls for a change in the way balances are corrected from the Service Time Guarantee Fund (FGTS). The meeting is scheduled for 7pm at the headquarters of the National Council of Justice (CNJ), in Brasília.

The Direct Action of Unconstitutionality (ADI) 5,090 is on the Supreme Court’s judgment agenda this Wednesday (18) and worries the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) due to the impact it could cause to public coffers depending on the votes of the Court’s ministers. In addition to Haddad, the Union’s attorney general, Jorge Messias, and the minister of Cities, Jader Filho, should participate in the hearing with Barroso.

Proposed in 2014 by the Solidariedade party, ADI argues that the monetary correction of FGTS balances should be made based on an inflationary indicator, such as the INPC or the IPCA. Today, the yield is calculated based on the Reference Rate (TR) plus 3% per year. In the petition, the party cites a study by the Inter-Union Department of Statistics and Socioeconomic Studies (Dieese) which shows a loss of 48.3% in the fund’s accounts in relation to inflation only up to 2013.

The Workers’ Guarantee Fund Institute (IFGT) calculates an accumulation of R$737 billion difference between what FGTS shareholders would be entitled to and what was actually received if the balances were corrected for inflation since January 1999. Now the Federal Attorney General’s Office (AGU) estimated, in 2021, that the Union could have to deposit around R$300 billion into the fund’s accounts if the STF accepts the initial request.

After a series of postponements, the trial of the action began on April 20th of this year, but ended up being suspended after a request for a review by Minister Nunes Marques.

Before that, Barroso, who is the rapporteur of the process, partially accepted Solidariedade’s request, arguing that the remuneration of FGTS accounts cannot be lower than that of the savings account, but that the effects of the decision are only valid from the publication of the minutes of the trial. André Mendonça, the second minister to speak, accompanied the rapporteur in his vote.

On this Wednesday’s judgment agenda, the action is fifth in line, which could result in it being postponed due to lack of time. According to the newspaper “O Globo”, the order of the agenda was purposefully established by Barroso so that the government had time to present its arguments.

As shown by People’s Gazettethe federal Executive has counted on the help of decisions from the STF and the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) to reinforce the Treasury’s cash flow and achieve the primary result targets for this and future years.

At the beginning of the year, a presidential decree created the Judicial Fiscal Risks Monitoring and Monitoring Council, formed by the Union’s attorney general and the ministers of Finance and Planning and Budget, to act in the government’s dialogue with higher courts on matters of interest of the Union.

In April, the STJ ruled in favor of the government in a judgment regarding federal taxation on incentives granted by states after Haddad met with the case’s rapporteur, Benedito Gonçalves, using this method.