Framework: rapporteur rules out blaming president – 05/09/2023 – Market

The rapporteur for the proposal for the new fiscal framework in the Chamber, Deputy Cláudio Cajado (PP-BA), said on Tuesday night (9) that he may postpone the presentation of his final text until next week.

The parliamentarian also ruled out the possibility of including in the text a device to hold the President of the Republic responsible, in case of non-compliance with the established goals. This has been one of the pressure points on the part of the opposition.

Cajado stated that it will not include any “draconian measures”.

The rapporteur had a meeting at the Planalto Palace on Tuesday night. Minister Alexandre Padilha (Institutional Relations), the executive secretary of the Ministry of Finance and nominee for the board of the Central Bank, Gabriel Galípolo, the leader of the government in the Chamber, José Guimarães (PT-CE), as well as government technicians and the Legislature.

Initially, the government expected to vote on the proposal next week. However, Cajado stated that the possibility that his report will be presented only next Tuesday (16th), during a meeting of Chamber leaders, was addressed during the meeting. Until then, the expectation was that the report would be presented by this Thursday (11).

“There was talk so that on Tuesday we could present this report in the college of leaders with my presence. But, as I said, the timing of the presentation of the report and the vote is when all these things are tied together, all these conversations concluded and all these suggestions, criticisms, replicas and rejoinders based on these conversations, considered”, he said as he left the meeting in Planalto, alongside José Guimarães.

Cajado said that the exact date of presentation of the report will depend, mainly, on the decision of the mayor, Arthur Lira, in relation to the voting day.

“I hope that [a apresentação ocorra] tomorrow, Wednesday night, or Thursday. It is my expectation. However, it has to be tied to the timing of the leaders and the President of the House. If it’s up for a vote next week, I should have it out on Thursday. If not, we will have another deadline to continue the dialogue, because the project is not yet mature enough to conclude it”, he added.

The rapporteur for the new fiscal framework did not want to advance possible changes in the text, in particular whether it will include contingency spending and triggers or just one of these mechanisms.

On the other hand, he ruled out any possibility of holding the President of the Republic accountable in case of non-compliance with goals.

“There are several proposals that are being presented. When you talk about making the president accountable, it is an issue that is not affected by the Fiscal Responsibility Law or the text that came with it. It is another piece of legislation. And what we are discussing here are the suggestions that were given to me by several benches and different parties, which come together to ensure that there is a balance between the government’s original proposal and what the group thinks, at least the majority of parliamentarians, since we are going to need the votes both from the base of the government and from the opposition”, stated the rapporteur.

“We’re discussing everything, but it’s not the issue of responsibility, because I’ve been saying that we don’t want any measures that are draconian. What we want is for management to have feasible, credible goals that can be pursued and achieved. When you speak only from the point of view of criminalization, you put aside the management effort”, he added.

Cajado added that the inclusion of triggers and mechanisms so that the goals can be reached are still on the discussion table.

“We want here to ensure that these fiscal rules, which are of the third generation, can focus on achieving the goal, making public management pursue it and obviously with triggers, with postures that make the mechanisms work”, said the parliamentarian.

“It is not possible to advance what is possible to change. What I can say is that several points, like the ones you [imprensa] have been putting, the ‘enforcements’, which are the triggers, this issue of exceptionalities, which involves goal criteria, all of this is being discussed”, he added

The deputy had already met in the morning with vice president Geraldo Alckmin (PSB) to discuss the final report. The parliamentarian said that the new framework may gain triggers to contain the increase in personnel expenses and the granting of new tax waivers in case of non-compliance with the primary result target.

In an interview with Sheet, the deputy had already demonstrated his intention to include adjustment triggers in expenses. The absence of a more rigid command of rebalancing measures in the text of the fiscal framework has been a frequent point of criticism among congressmen and financial market agents.