Vacuum on queue of CPIs heats up political climate in Alesp – 03/10/2023 – Power

Next Wednesday (15), the inauguration ceremony of 94 state deputies and the election of the Board of Directors of the Legislative Assembly of São Paulo promise less emotion than another event that mobilizes the House on the same date – the race to file requests for CPIs (Parliamentary Commissions of Inquiry).

It will be the first clash between the left-wing opposition and the base of Governor Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans). The two groups want to arrive earlier, since the CPIs are installed following the protocol order, and they have outlined their strategies.

In 2019, the left reached the site of the protocol after João Doria’s PSDB, which escalated servers to wait 63 hours in line, request 11 CPIs and, thus, shield the then governor from investigations.

This time, a group of deputies loyal to Tarcísio plans to file 15 CPIs on issues that do not generate wear and tear, pushing those of the opposition to the end of the queue. On the other hand, PT and PSOL deputies have already started collecting signatures for their CPIs and will try to dribble the government.

The problem is that, this year, no one knows for sure what the protocol procedure will be, since, since then, the process has become digital. A Sheet questioned the Board of Directors, but had no response. There is a promise that an act will be published by the 15th with these details.

The vagueness ends up favoring the base. The current president of the House, Carlão Pignatari (PSDB), and the one who should be elected, André do Prado (PL), are allies of Tarcísio and participate in the task force to stop the opposition CPIs.

According to House deputies, Pignatari signaled that, after taking office on the 15th, the protocol system will be closed for a week, which should postpone the race. With this, the 40 new deputies will have time to enter the digital procedure.

Anyway, parliamentarians consider that the specific protocol of the CPIs be done physically, as it would be the only way in which the top of the House could exercise control over the queue — a method that four years ago turned an Alesp corridor into a camp.

Among the 15 CPIs articulated by the base is one about the energy company Enel and supply problems. The opposition is considering issues such as the distribution of oil royalties, depollution of the Tietê River, works by the DER (Department of Highways) and the Via Mobilidade consortium. Bolsonaristas want to investigate gender transition treatments for minors.

Tarcísio’s assistants say behind the scenes that the governor has no concern with the CPIs, because he has only been in office for two months. Most of the themes, they assess, tend to fall back on the achievements of the PSDB.

Therefore, according to deputies, Pignatari participates in the plan to bar opposition CPIs. Furthermore, the Tarcísio government considers that left-wing CPIs, even if they target toucans, may end up involving current secretaries.

PT deputies, in turn, want to seek dialogue with André to placate their CPIs with the argument that the target is the PSDB and there may be common interests. They also intend to have anti-Doria Bolsonarists on this mission.

On the left itself, however, there is a dispute between the PT and the PSOL for the leading role in the CPIs and discomfort among the PT in eventually reaching Geraldo Alckmin (PSB), now Lula’s deputy (PT).

The union of efforts is necessary because 32 signatures are needed on the commissions’ application, a third of the 94 deputies, and the opposition bench (PT, PSOL, Rede and PC do B) has 25.

As shown to Sheet four years ago, the queue for the CPI began on the 15th, a Friday, and lasted until the following Monday. Advisors took turns with improvised chairs in a wait that had at least pizza and soda.

The race for the CPIs, usually carried out on the plenary clock, happens because the Assembly’s regiment determines that the commissions be established in the order of the protocol from the beginning of the new legislature —only five can function at the same time.

The investigations have a period of 120 days and can be extended once, for 60 days, adding up to a maximum period of six months.

In 2019, PSDB and allies, once in the number one position in the queue, filed 11 CPIs, pushing the opposition at least to the following year.

The topics ranged from the illegal sale of animals, fake news, the situation of the Salto Grande dam, sexual violence in universities, air taxis and others. With that, the toucans achieved the main objective of blocking a Dersa CPI, which would target the corruption scandals carried out by the engineer Paulo Vieira de Souza, Paulo Preto.

The mere protocol of the CPIs, however, does not guarantee their functioning, which depends on the president of the House to create the commission, on the parties to define their members, on the oldest member to call the first meeting, on the members to elect president and rapporteur and that there is a quorum for the other meetings. All of these steps usually face obstruction from the base or the opposition, depending on the topic of the CPI.

In the case of Dersa, for example, when it came time for the CPI filed by the PT to take action, after the first 11 in line, Pignatari took months to set it up. Finally, in December 2021, the toucan annulled the act of creating the commission, stating that the request for the installation of the CPI did not have “a constitutional requirement to characterize a determined fact”.

In the current legislature, 13 CPIs were installed, according to protocol order, and only 9 reached a final report. Among the completed commissions, the one that generated the most wear and tear for the PSDB was that of Furp (Foundation for Popular Remedy).

An opposition CPI that was installed, headed by the PT, was the one that proposed the investigation of the tax benefits granted by the toucan governments. There was a first meeting, in December 2021, in which Paulo Fiorilo (PT) was elected president, but, in a strategy of government deputies, there was no quorum for any other meeting until its closure, in March 2022.