A political document addressing several issues will be discussed at a national meeting this weekend in Brasília, including criticism of the Judiciary.
Initially, the discussion was about approving a text mentioning “promiscuity between judges and businesspeople”. Now, the tendency is for “self-correction mechanism” to be defended in the text.
The likely softening is part of a broader movement at the top of the party to . The idea is to avoid topics that could cause friction within the party or that have the potential to increase the deterioration of the image of the president (PT), who will run for re-election in October.
The initial version of one of the texts that the party will discuss during the congress advocated a reform of the Judiciary “not only to eliminate promiscuity between judges and businesspeople, but also to overcome the neoliberal logic that prevails in most of the Judiciary’s decisions on issues relating to the economic and social order”.
Party leaders say, however, that the tendency is for the section with the strongest words to be removed from the document that will be voted on.
The criticism of the initial version of the document is linked to the Banco Master case, which dragged members of the (Supreme Federal Court) into the scandal.
The main examples are , whose wife, Viviane Barci, leads a law firm that ; and, which was, through a family company, an investment fund linked to former banker Daniel Vorcaro, who owned Master.
Another text should defend changes in Justice, but in a more concise way and with milder words. The change in the Judiciary would be “aimed at democratization, self-correction mechanisms and strengthening the rule of law”.
In this new text that is being debated, the party directly cites Banco Master, but in the topic in which it defends a reform of the financial system. The party is treating this document as a manifesto, a version that summarizes the main discussions of the PT meeting.
“[O PT defende] reform of the financial system, in order to confront rent-seeking and expand the regulation, supervision and transparency of the financial market, strengthening public control instruments and preventing risks, especially in light of the lessons left by the Master case”, states the manifesto proposal.
The new document under discussion also says that the scandal was “germinated with the approval of the Bolsonaro government and unmasked by the Lula government.”
The party will still evaluate possible changes. Lula’s internal current CNB (Building a New Brazil) has a majority within the party and should be able to maintain the content of the manifesto – drawn up mainly by its members – with few changes.
Important PT members have tried, over the last few weeks, to try to move away from the political strain caused by the Master scandal.
The case, which shook the court’s image among the electorate, has been exploited by right-wing sectors that were already attacking the court. Lula and his allies are looking for a way to not let their opponents turn the scandal into an advantage for this year’s elections.
The STF was close to the PT government throughout most of the President of the Republic’s current term, which increases the chances of the Judiciary’s deterioration affecting the Executive.
Lula considers that his government has no relation to the scandal, despite PT administrations in Bahia being cited in the case. Even though they think he is not involved, the president and his allies consider that the case has worn down his administration because the population would tend to associate corruption with the Executive.
