Novo calls STF to end the new “secret budget”

The Partido Novo presented an action to the Federal Supreme Court to suspend payments for parliamentary amendments included in item RP8 of the Union Budget destined for the Senate’s Tourism and Regional Development Committee. These are federal funds worth R$6.48 billion today controlled by senator Marcelo Castro (MDB-PI), who reported the 2023 budget proposal last year.

For the party, it is a new “secret budget” – a nickname given to expenses made on the recommendation of deputies and senators, between 2020 and 2022 without clarity about the parliamentarian responsible for reserving the resource and the place where it was being applied. In December last year, the STF prohibited this type of maneuver, which was carried out through item RP9 of the Budget, determining greater transparency in transfers to states and municipalities.

Novo, however, says that parliamentarians continue to allocate amounts within the amendments destined for the Senate’s Tourism and Regional Development Committee, led by Marcelo Castro, who is an ally of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The suspicion is that he is favoring, with more resources, colleagues who vote in accordance with the government’s interests. The Novo party points out a large discrepancy in the application of resources, with certain municipalities receiving much more than others, with no clear criteria for differentiation.

“The violation of the constitutional principles of publicity, transparency, impersonality, morality, efficiency, equity and regionalization is evident in the execution of commission amendments in 2023. The continued execution of commission amendments in the current system will result in huge damage to public coffers and the execution of public policies, since public funds are being allocated in dissonance with current parameters, with an evident concentration of power in the hands of the commission president, and, consequently, displacement of public funds for personal use instead of application in serious, well-designed public policies based on objective and technical criteria”, says the action.