Previously critical of secrecy, Lula restricts access to veto opinions on the time frame

The government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) chose to keep confidential the opinions related to the vetoes of the bill on the time frame for the demarcation of indigenous lands. The decision follows the argument that the disclosure of information could harm the defense of the Executive Branch before the Federal Supreme Court (STF), a justification that had already been used during the administration of Jair Bolsonaro (PL).

Last week, Congress overturned Lula’s veto of the time frame, restoring validity to a section of the project that established a limit for the demarcation of indigenous lands. According to the approved text, only areas occupied by indigenous people until the promulgation of the 1988 Constitution can be demarcated. The PT government plans to appeal to the STF to annul Congress’ decision.

The Special Secretariat for Legal Affairs (SAJ) of the Presidency of the Republic denied access to the documents requested through the Access to Information Law (LAI), arguing that disclosure would compromise the effectiveness of the defense of the act before the STF.

“The effectiveness of the defense of the act [pela AGU] would be harmed by the disclosure of the arguments used when recommending the veto of devices due to unconstitutionality, compromising the reach of the principle of broad defense, equality and parity of weapons”, said the SAJ to the Estadão.

The main motivation of Centrão and the agribusiness bench for approving the time frame was a judgment by the STF that considered the limitation unconstitutional.

The SAJ defended the guarantee of confidentiality of the statements made by the Attorney General’s Office (AGU) during the sanction and veto analysis, alleging the risk of contradictions in the “concentrated control action”. The body justified that providing the information would be a violation against Union lawyers involved in the government’s internal debate, relying on the law’s statute and citing the support of the General Comptroller of the Union (CGU) for secrecy in these cases.

This approach contrasts with precedents adopted during the PT administration, when secrecy in opinions was not the norm. The practice of keeping opinions confidential became common during the Bolsonaro administration and continues under the Lula government, maintaining the same rationale.

The internal processing of presidential vetoes and sanctions includes reports from ministries related to the bill under analysis. In the case of the time frame, 19 of the 38 ministries were consulted, with some declaring they did not have the competence to give an opinion on the matter.