Palácio do Planalto made a concentrated effort to quickly pay parliamentary amendments, in a few days, to honor its commitment to Congress and, with this, try to approve the .
Parliamentarians were skeptical that the resources would be released by December 31st.
Members of the second echelon of the government were instructed to prioritize these transfers and part of the resources was released earlier, but in three days the majority of what was held back was disbursed (R$ 7.8 billion).
There is a possibility that another R$800 million will be released this year.
The government now expects Congress to approve the package this week, the last week before the parliamentary recess.
Parliamentary amendments were blocked due to , which demanded more transparency, inspection and traceability.
Despite several signs of corruption in the handling of these funds, which in 2024 exceeded R$50 billion, congressmen resist these measures and say they see the Planalto Palace’s hand behind the decisions in the .
Planalto’s pressure on the ministries only had an effect with the drafting of an inter-ministerial ordinance (Finance, Management, Planning and Institutional Relations) to regulate transfers and, mainly, an opinion from the (Attorney General’s Office) to legally guide the portfolios.
With the document endorsed by Minister Jorge Messias, the government managed to create an “express route” in the portfolios to speed up payments, as a deadline of 60 days was set for presenting work plans for amendments.
Thanks to the temporary suspension of the work plan, ministers felt legally supported to transfer resources. Government members say that both the ordinance and the opinion only condensed and systematized what was already foreseen in Dino’s decision.
as to Sheet However, it showed that the ordinance left congressmen to dribble the transparency of the amendments.
The president’s assistants claim that there is now greater expertise than last year, the first year of administration 3. Furthermore, most of what is held back is for Health, the ministry that would have the greatest technical staff and knowledge to execute the resources. Planalto said this Friday that the ministry paid R$3.8 billion in amendments.
The pressure from Lula’s direct assistants on the ministerial teams was due to Congress’s discomfort and the limited time for payments. There was a need to authorize them in time for the ministries to release the resources.
Although the National Treasury made the money available, in an attempt to placate dissatisfaction in Congress, the STF’s approval was still necessary.
According to more up-to-date estimates from government members, the value of the dammed amendments reached R$7.8 billion. In the same period last year, there was around R$1 billion to be executed.
Dino released payment for the amendments on the 2nd, but with conditions. Afterwards, he even denied requests from the AGU to review requirements.
Faced with the minister’s refusal, last Tuesday the government published the ordinance and opinion. Before the document signed by minister Jorge Messias became public, it was presented in a closed-door meeting at the Civil House with all of Esplanada’s executive secretaries.
On this occasion, the executive secretary of Institutional Relations, Olavo Noleto, appealed to his colleagues to prioritize payments this week given the difficulties in Congress and the limited time.
President Lula, before performing emergency surgery in São Paulo on Tuesday (10), met at Planalto with the presidents of the Chamber and of , (-AL) and Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), respectively.
According to reports, the meeting’s first objective was to say that there is no intramural agreement between the STF and Planalto for the non-payment of the amendments and that the government will make the transfers as quickly as possible. This created the possibility for Haddad’s package to move forward at the end of the year.
Lula heard from the presidents of the Houses suggestions for adjustments to the texts, such as removing articles that could become redundant and cause legal questions. The demands were met, and the ordinance and opinion published the following day.
Still in the middle of the week, the Ministry of Education had obtained authorization to pay around R$170 million in bench and individual amendments alone. More than R$160 million had been reserved for the Ministry of Regional Development, while around R$110 million was authorized for the Ministry of Cities
In reserve, government officials say they now expect reciprocity from Congress to approve priority agendas for the government.
