Government concedes in points of sanitation decrees – 07/06/2023 – Market

The government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) admitted to giving up part of the decrees of the sanitation framework in view of the message from the National Congress that it wants to maintain the collection of bids for the performance of water and sewage companies.

The PDL (draft legislative decree) approved by the Chamber of Deputies in May overturned three articles of the decrees edited by Lula in April, and gave the government its first significant defeat in Congress.

To avoid a defeat in the Senate as well, the text of the new decree —which should replace the other two— is being discussed point by point with parliamentarians.

The government agreed to leave out of the new decree two points that dealt with regionalized provision, in addition to modifying the section that only required the decision of the governance entity for the coexistence of more than one provider in the region.

The retreat was informed this Thursday (6) during a meeting in the Senate between the President of the House, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), the Minister of Cities, Jader Filho (MDB), the leader of the government, Jaques Wagner (PT- BA), and the PDL rapporteur, senator Confúcio Moura (MDB-RO).

Initially, the government and the Senate planned to issue a decree with the consensus passages, and a second text (by means of a decree, bill or provisional measure) to resolve the points that were the target of the Chamber.

As Congress claims that the overturned sections could not have been changed by decree, and the government says that a provisional measure or a bill would bring legal uncertainty, the tendency is for the changes to be sewn into a single decree.

“What the private initiative requests is that it not open provisional measures or bills to discuss the matter if it does not end up becoming a new regulatory framework”, said Confúcio. “Many procedures are already in current use.”

The PDL entered the agenda of Wednesday (5) of the Senate to pressure the government to find a solution before the recess. The expectation is that there will be an agreement by next Tuesday (11).

Even with enough votes to reverse the changes made by Lula, even opposition senators have been pushing for a solution around the decree due to pressure from mayors.

Among other points, the federal government decrees open loopholes for state and municipal basic sanitation companies to provide services without bidding, and remove the limit for public-private partnerships.

To prevent the Senate agreement from being buried by the Chamber of Deputies, senators are trying to align the changes with the PDL rapporteur in the Chamber, Alex Manente (Cidadania-SP), and the author, Evair de Melo (PP-ES).

“I think that the discussions have been very positive, and the Senate has stated its positions. I believe that, from now until Tuesday, we will reach a final conclusion regarding the matter”, said the minister after the meeting.

Since the PDL reached the Senate, the evaluation is that the changes made by Lula did not even have support from the base, and the government would be defeated if the text were put to the vote.

On Tuesday (4), the leader of the MDB, senator Eduardo Braga (AM), stated that it was “important to build an alternative” because there were no votes to overturn the text approved by the Chamber of Deputies in May.

“There are conversations already at an advanced stage in the sense that the government can even evaluate the repeal of the current decree, the edition of a new decree excluding what would be achieved by the PDL”, he said.