Apex president Jorge Viana.| Photo: Joédson Alves/Agência Brasil.

The Federal Regional Court of the 1st Region (TRF1) suspended this Thursday (25) the decision of the 5th Federal Civil Court of the Federal District that had removed the president of ApexBrasil, Jorge Viana (PT-AC) from office. The Advocacy General of the Union (AGU) reported that the vice-president of the court in the exercise of the presidency, federal judge Marcos Augusto de Souza, agreed with the understanding presented by the Union in the sense that Viana meets the requirements to occupy the position.

Viana had her tenure questioned for not proving fluency in English, a minimum requirement to hold the position. He was removed from the role on the last day 22, in a preliminary decision. The AGU filed the appeal on Wednesday night (24).

In the preliminary decision, the vice-president of TRF1 considered that “the ApexBrasil statute establishes three alternative forms for proving aptitude for the position: 1st) Certificate of Proficiency or Certificate of Completion of an English Course – Advanced Level; 2nd) international experience (residence, work or study) for a minimum period of 1 (one) year; 3rd) professional experience in Brazil, of at least 2 (two) years, which has required knowledge and use of the language in the performance of duties”, informed the AGU.

“In this line, the federal entity attaches to the present file documents that, even if in a superficial examination, typical of the species, prove the fulfillment of the last two alternative requirements – attesting that the appointee held the position of member (full and alternate) of the Foreign Affairs and National Defense from 02/22/2011 to 12/21/2018, in addition to having participated in several missions abroad and having integrated several commissions and groups operating at the international level”, says an excerpt from the decision.

The judge also agreed with the concern expressed by the AGU that Viana’s removal from office would harm the promotion of Brazilian exports. “In this line, it can be seen that the Union brought to the process the last APEXBrasil management report, referring to the year 2022, revealing that such activities have a direct impact on different sectors of the national economy, such as wholesale trade, manufacturing of food products, among others, which would also be harmed with the maintenance of the attacked decision, from which the risk of injury to the economy is also extracted”, he said.