The federal government has been putting pressure on senators so that the bill on rare earths and critical minerals, already approved in the Chamber of Deputies, is put to a vote in the Federal Senate as quickly as possible. The information was investigated by CNN political analyst Caio Junqueira together with reporter Gabriel Garcia, in CNN Prime Time.
The project was processed in the Chamber quickly, with the aim of approval occurring before President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) traveled to Washington for a meeting with Donald Trump. According to Caio Junqueira, the president of the Chamber, Hugo Motta, responded to the government’s request and quickly put the text to a vote in the plenary.
Private sector works to reduce government power
During the two days of proceedings in the Chamber, the private sector acted incisively to modify specific points of the project, reducing the government’s power to influence strategic decisions on critical minerals. “There was a very incisive action from the production sector, dehydrating the project, just as the government had idealized in some specific points”, stated Caio Junqueira.
One of the points of tension involves a council foreseen in the project, which comes from the productive sector and some senators assess that “it greatly empowers the Brazilian State and hinders investments”, according to the analyst. Now, in , the articulation of the private sector with parliamentarians seeks to further reduce the influence of Palácio do Planalto on the national policy on critical minerals.
Project rapporteur has not yet been defined
The project does not yet have a defined rapporteur in the Federal Senate. Among those considered for the position are Renan Calheiros and Tereza Cristina. The expectation is that the text can be discussed as early as the week following the investigation, but the government is trying to speed up the process precisely to try to contain the influence of the productive sector on the final product of the legislation.
In a speech, Lula argued that Brazil needs to expand knowledge about its territory to map its oil reserves. “Brazil only has 30% knowledge of what it has in its immense territory”, he declared. Lula also stated that the country has no veto or preference for any foreign partner for exploration, but stressed that “the critical minerals are ours” and that national sovereignty will not be given up.
