Government calls STF and requests suspension of current court payment rules

The Attorney General’s Office (AGU) asked the Federal Supreme Court (STF) this Monday (25) to declare the partial unconstitutionality of constitutional amendments nº 113/21 and nº 114/21, which created an annual ceiling for expenses with the payment of court orders until 2027. The Union wants the Court to authorize a change in classification in the Treasury’s spending on court orders, as government debts that have been recognized by the Courts are called.

In the opinion, the AGU maintains that the regime foresees an increasing increase in expenditure and could generate an unpayable stock. According to the agency, the total debt could reach R$250 billion by 2027, reported the Brazil Agency. “The continuation of the current precatório payment system has the potential to generate an unpayable stock, which would result in the need for a new moratorium, intensifying and projecting violations of fundamental rights over a longer period of time, which will be better explained in the following topic” , argued the AGU.

The document, based on a technical note from the Ministry of Finance, also says that new payment rules for court orders brought “false tax relief” and “artificially masked” public accounts. In the lawyer’s opinion, the debt is not included in the annual statistics and is postponed until 2027, when it must be paid off. The opinion was included in unconstitutionality actions filed in 2021 with the STF by the PDT and the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB). The trial date has not yet been defined by the rapporteur, Minister Luiz Fux.