In March of this year, we spoke about the problem and problems with the current model for executing billion-dollar expenses. We reached December and the problem remains, to the point that, last Friday (12), the minister of the (Supreme Federal Court) authorized the launch of “Operation Transparency”, which included the search and seizure of documents in the offices of the presidency itself.
According to , congressmen reacted with indignation to the scrutiny and supposed “intimidation” of Parliament, threatening to retaliate in the end-of-year votes. Behind the scenes, the lack of support from the other court ministers. We agree with him: it’s not a one-man job.
Given the centrality of the issue for democracy, it is necessary to remember the importance of the minister’s decisions this year to rescue something that should never cease to be public: the use of money collected from taxes. show that, between 2014 and 2024, parliamentary amendments on health. In education, the real increase was 315.6%.
Obviously no one is against more investment in health and education. The serious problem is the advance of a Legislature refractory to transparency over a growing portion of an increasingly compressed budget. In practice, what little remains is spent without social control to invest in vital areas, marked by historical inequalities that mainly affect the poorest population.
This expansion of congressmen’s power over the destination of public money was not accompanied by accountability. In August, individual, between 2020 and 2024, without any work plan, totaling R$694.7 million. It is no coincidence that at the beginning of the year there was already talk of investigating possible deviations.
Given this scenario, it is necessary to highlight Minister Dino’s decisions, provoked by civil society, in defense of budgetary constitutionality: he ordered that public resources be directed only to specific bank accounts; required financial institutions to establish locks and blocks to prevent irregular transfers or cash withdrawals; required the presentation of work plans as a condition for releasing resources; guided the broadcast of advertising campaigns on transparency and traceability of parliamentary amendments on public television channels; determined that beneficiaries of personnel expenses covered by amendments have their name and CPF number actively disclosed on the Transparency Portal.
Although there is still a long way to go, the decisions endorsed by the STF plenary show the way to recover budget traceability and make the constitutional duty of accountability real. But it is necessary to demand more forceful action from the other court ministers on this agenda. As Fernando Henrique Cardoso warned in the 2000s, this is one of the biggest threats to the republican structure. This parliamentarism without fiscal responsibility needs to be contained.
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