fronts want to include the Judiciary and Legislative

Parliamentary fronts in the Chamber of Deputies are working together to ensure, later this year, the discussion of a proposal for administrative reform that includes the Legislative and Judiciary Powers.

With more than 300 parliamentarians, the Free Market, Entrepreneurship, Agriculture, Sustainable Mining, Competitive Brazil and Commerce and Services fronts want to take advantage of the moment to give visibility to the topic and involve society.

“We can propose a parliamentary amendment or even support an Executive project. The government needs to start talking about cost reduction”, says Rodrigo Marinho, executive director of the Free Market Parliamentary Front.

There is already a proposed amendment to the Constitution on the subject in Congress, PEC 32/2020. Presented by the government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL), it was approved by a special committee of the Chamber in September 2021. But, with the elections in 2022 approaching, the measure was left aside and was never discussed in the Plenary.

The issue is that PEC 32 essentially covers Executive employees and does not affect categories such as judges and prosecutors, for example. For Marinho, it is essential to include Legislative and Judiciary employees, as privileges are no longer accepted by Brazilian society. “It will be a fight, which we will support, and we are confident,” he adds. The proposal, he adds, would not affect the acquired rights of current employees.

At the federal level, Judiciary employees have the highest salaries. According to the Atlas of the Brazilian State, from the Institute of Applied Economic Research (Ipea), in 2019 their average salary was R$15,300. In the same year, average salaries in the Executive and Federal Legislative branches were R$9,400 and R$9,300, respectively.

In the opinion of deputy Evair de Melo (PP-ES), from the Parliamentary Agricultural Front, the ideal would be to present a new PEC, within the competence of the National Congress, without the need for interference from the Executive. “The government does not have the courage to propose change, but Parliament will do its part”, says the deputy.

Wear of the STF strengthened opposition and stimulated support for administrative reform

The push to defend administrative reform takes place in a context of confrontation between the National Congress and the Federal Supreme Court (STF). For some time now, parliamentarians have been convinced that the Supreme Court has gone beyond its prerogatives. But disagreements intensified after a series of recent Court decisions, especially those relating to the time frame, the decriminalization of drugs and the authorization of abortion for up to 12 weeks after conception.

In recent weeks, parliamentarians obstructed votes in protest and, in a quick vote in the Senate’s Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ), approved a project that limits the Court’s actions, putting an end to monocratic decisions. Another PEC, which authorizes Congress to overturn decisions made by the STF, was also processed again last week.

Fueling the confrontation, the President of the House, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), defended for the second time, last Wednesday (4), the creation of a mandate for Supreme Court ministers. And the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), said that the Powers of the Republic need to remain within “constitutional limits”, as does, according to him, the National Congress.

Evair de Melo states that the measures approved in relation to the STF are just a necessary “cleaning brake”. “The Judiciary is aware that it has advanced further than expected, that it has fulfilled a role that was not its own. They know that they have exaggerated their prerogatives, their decisions. With an institutional readjustment, the Powers will work better”, he says.

Although the erosion of the Supreme Court has contributed to the strengthening of the opposition in Congress, Marinho does not consider the inclusion of the Judiciary in the administrative reform as retaliation. “At some point the discussion would have to move against privileges,” he says.

Defense of the reform was resumed by Lira

The idea of ​​rescuing the reform began to be defended in the first half of the year by the president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), despite strong resistance from the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), which allows at most specific changes to the legislation .

At the time, the initiative was classified as a strategy to press for positions in the Executive. Lira has given broad support to the fronts’ initiative.

With the prospect of a loss in public accounts and the government’s impossibility of meeting the target of zeroing the fiscal deficit by 2024, parliamentarians understand that the project will move forward. “Everything the government has done in fiscal terms, with the framework and the collection effort, is not having the credibility to improve the scenario”, believes Evair de Melo.

The market, the deputy believes, needs to receive positive signals, capable of stopping currency evasion and attracting investment to the country. “A PEC that is approved and implemented will give this signal. We will spare no effort to correct this course”, he says.

Front wants to involve society in the banner of administrative reform

The calendar of activities of the parliamentary fronts is tight, but should move quickly after Arthur Lira’s return to the country, on the 20th.

Lira has been absent since last week, when he embarked on a trip to India, followed by a visit to China. He will be present at a conference that brings together heads of Parliament in New Delhi and will also hold meetings with other leaders in Beijing.

“We will address the issue of reform at the first meeting of Chamber leaders”, says Melo.

To boost the debate, the fronts scheduled a seminar on the topic for November 1st, with Arthur Lira opening and the participation of important names, including the president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco, the governor of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas and Minister Esther Dweck, of Management and Innovation in Public Services. “By then, administrative reform will already be on people’s lips”, predicts Marinho.

Whatever the format of the proposal defined, Melo believes that the greatest difficulties will be concentrated in the Senate.

“In matters of structural reforms, the president of the Senate has always been silent or a hostage”, assesses the PP deputy. “Pacheco made some nods to the government in the hope of being remembered for the vacancy on the STF. As this did not happen, perhaps his record has fallen and he can embrace the reform”, he says.

With the Judiciary, reform savings could exceed R$400 billion

Estimates from the manager Ryo Asset indicate that the administrative reform of the Executive currently being processed in Congress (PEC 32) would have the potential to reduce Union spending by R$180 billion in a decade. Considering all Brazilian states, the total economy could reach R$330 billion in the same period.

With the inclusion of the Judiciary and current civil servants, however, the savings would reach R$420 billion in ten years at the federal level alone, the manager calculates.

There are other more optimistic projections. In September 2020, when the PEC was forwarded to the Legislature, the Institute for Applied Economic Research (Ipea) projected an impact of between R$470.6 billion and R$497 billion in a decade, only at the federal level.

The estimates are based on several parameters, including the number of employees affected by the changes, the number of those who will retire in subsequent years and the so-called replacement rate, calculated based on the number of vacancies that will be filled by retired employees.