Parliamentarians echo Lira and Pacheco’s speech and criticize Lula’s absence

The session that marked the beginning of the Legislature, on the afternoon of this Monday (29), was held for the second time without the presence of the President of the Republic, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), since the beginning of his third term. The PT member only sent one message to be read in the plenary of the Chamber of Deputies.

In the opinion of federal deputy Nikolas Ferreira, Lula wants to avoid “embarrassment” in front of deputies. “After the last reception, the thief did not appear in the Chamber today. May God bless and protect us at the beginning of another year of work. May good resist and persist”, wrote the deputy on the X network.

In their opening speeches, the presidents of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco, and the Chamber, Arthur Lira, defended the strengthening of the Legislature and highlighted that economic issues should be among the priorities of 2024. However, some parliamentarians expect “more action” from the two legislative houses against the abuses of the Judiciary, especially the Federal Supreme Court (STF).

“The speeches of both Lira and Pacheco, on the occasion of the opening of Congress activities, were very clear in the sense that parliament will act. Even from the tone of his voice, it was very clear that the president of the Chamber will take measures to prevent abuses, which only occurred due to past omissions.”, said federal deputy Ubiratan Sanderson (PL-RS) to People’s Gazette.

When evaluating the opening of the legislature, senator Eduardo Girão (Novo-CE) criticized the speeches of the presidents of the two legislative houses. “I’m worried about these speeches, with a lot of talk. People are tired of speech, they want action,” he said.

“Abuses are taking place by some STF ministers and the Senate is not analyzing the requests for impeachment. It seems that there is an agreed game with the Chamber, because even what we vote here as the end of the privileged forum will be stopped for 6 years in the Chamber. It’s blocking the mechanism. And also now PEC 8, on democratic decisions, which is stuck in the Chamber. The population is in disbelief and the opposition is wanting more action from the Senate. We need to get out of the discourse and go into effective practice” , Girão declared to People’s Gazette.

Senator Magno Malta (PL-ES) also hopes that “there will be changes in this legislature”, especially on the part of the Senate to put the STF “in its rightful place”. “The Brazilian people wait for the president of the Senate to comply with and enforce what is discretionary in the relationship between the three powers and to eliminate judicial activism. In this legislature, I hope that the Senate lives up to the expectations of the Brazilian people,” said Malta The People’s Gazette.

Furthermore, according to Malta, Lira was quite “emphatic” in “stating that deputies will not just be mere rubber stamps of the executive’s proposals.” “These words were incisive and must be put into practice from tomorrow onwards. It is essential that they are put into effect, given that up until now there has been behavior merely of stampers, yes”, declared the senator from Espírito Santo.

Priority agendas

As the new legislative year begins, deputies and senators will have a long agenda of votes ahead of them. Some parliamentarians listed the areas they consider to be priorities, including economic and public security.

According to Lira, these will be the regulation of tax reform, the resumption of the discussion on administrative reform, the approval of the green agenda and a regulation on artificial intelligence.

Regarding public security, Pacheco said in his opening speech that there will be debates about the growth of violence, both in the countryside and in the cities. He also reaffirmed his commitment to deliberations on modern and efficient sentences, with the aim of reducing violence rates in the country.

For deputy Sergeant Portugal (Podemos-RJ), the National Congress needs to take a more careful look at police officers. “Our police officers need to have more attention, a more careful look from the National Congress. The troops are suffering daily from precarious conditions. We need to debate public policies to dignify the lives of our public security operators”, said Portugal.

Federal deputy Sergeant Gonçalves (PL-RN) highlighted some important points in the fight against crime, such as the end of “saidinhas”. “The Legislature needs to provide a response commensurate with the atrocities committed by criminals. The National Congress has a moral duty to the citizen to put an end to this “getting out” spree.

On the other hand, deputy Silvia Waiãpi (PL-AP) defended the need for Congress to advance “agendas that deal with the protection of women, combating feminicide and increasing penalties for sexual crimes against children”. Furthermore, “focus on agendas that lead to development and investment in indigenous territories.”

Federal deputy Rodrigo Valadares (União-SE) mentioned the expectation of reaching the necessary signatures for the PEC that requires the approval of the Board of Directors for legal measures against congressmen. “The measure aims to protect the mandate of deputies and senators against repeated abuses committed by the Judiciary that put at risk the sovereignty of the popular vote, parliamentary exercise and democracy in our country” pointed out the author of the proposal.