Last Wednesday (24), he unanimously rejected him the call, approved days before. The proposal expanded privileges and created almost insurmountable barriers against criminal investigations of parliamentarians. It was buried after a strong social and media reaction, which has placed congressmen under embarrassment rarely seen in recent years. This is not just a legislative defeat, but a point of inflection: for the first time in a long time, the.
Discredit on the legislature is deep. , 78% of Brazilians believe that deputies and senators work more for their own benefit than in collective interest; 35% evaluate the institution’s performance as bad or bad. Still, this rejection did not produce real changes. In the last decade, Parliament has gained power without coupling responsibility and has passed, presses or criticizes. The dominant sensation was impotence. “With this congress is no use,” he repeated to exhaustion in bars and conversation wheels.
The shielding PEC seemed to repeat this script. The text was, on a empty quorum night, and included measures that would shine the eyes of organized crime: prior authorization to open criminal proceedings, prohibition of arrest saved in the act, expansion of forum to party presidents and secret vote for almost any investigation. It was the perfect package for corporate self -defense.
The reaction, however, was immediate and broad. e. Estracted, deputies began to retreat: with an embargoed voice, declared on social networks or. Under this climate, the Senate Constitution and Justice Commission not only changed the text, but decided to bury it.
This episode breaks a pattern. It shows that Congress is not invulnerable to social pressure, as many believed (including us). It is true that what was achieved was just to stop a setback: there is no transformative achievement in preventing parliamentarians from shielding from the law. But the gesture opens a political precedent: it indicates that if there is persistent mobilization, it is possible to contain and even reverse practices that corrode democracy.
Society should not be content with momentary relief. It is time to transform this demonstration of strength into a positive agenda. Brazil needs to take advantage of the conjuncture to propose structural transparency reforms in the legislature. Let us start with the approval of the package, developed by the Pact for Democracy and Signatories. Among the measures of the package are direct and high impact proposals: to end the indiscriminate use of the emergency regime, which today runs over debates and limits social participation; oblige the early disclosure of the plenary guidelines; Strengthen the commissions and resume mixed commissions of provisional measures analysis; institutionalize the college of leaders with clear and transparent rules; and create rules to guarantee effective access of civil society to the legislative process. These are changes that may return predictability, responsibility and integrity to Parliament.
The fall of the shield PEC should serve as fuel. It is not enough to prevent setbacks; You need to move forward. If Congress has been sensitive now, it is the time to push the open door and demand changes that strengthen democracy. Only then will we cease to repeat, resigned, that “with this congress is no use.”
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