The law enacted in June 2016 during the Michel Temer government prohibits the participation of politicians and government officials in top management
The indignation of the president Lula da Silva with the State Law comes from the transitional period. In early December, when he was trying to insert Aloizio Mercadante in the BNDES extensionLula got furious at a rally: “What law is this that doesn’t allow me to name anyone?”
The state law was enacted in June 2016 during the government of Michel Temer in the wake of the corruption revealed by Lava Jato. It is a preventive law, which defines the criteria of competence for holding positions of command in state-owned companies.
It also bans the participation of politicians and government officials in the top management of these companies and establishes a three-year quarantine for party and union leaders and those who have participated in election campaigns.
Shortly after Lula’s denunciation, the Chamber approved the reduction of the quarantine to 30 days with a lightning vote at 11pm on Tuesday 13 December. The maneuver revolted public opinion and the issue stalled in the Senate.
Lula retreated, but did not give up. Allied parties entered the Supreme Federal Court (STF) demanding the unconstitutionality of the law on the basis of the “penalization of politics” thesis, which was embraced by government-aligned ministers, lawyers and commentators.
The argument – defended by the president himself in a note to the Supreme Court drafted by the Advocacy General of the Union (AGU) – is that quarantine is discriminatory because it assumes that “partisan political activity is an inherent trigger of administrative impropriety” .
This is fallacious reasoning. Quarantine is a preventive measure and exists in different activities without configuring discrimination. It is risk mitigation, as prevention is usually more effective than punishment. In the case of state-owned companies, it was adopted based on the experience of corruption cases.
STF Minister Ricardo Lewandowski, however, granted an injunction shortly before withdrawing and released the nominations. Behind the scenes of the Supreme Court, he is said to have acted without consulting anyone, placing a heavy political burden on the court.
Last Friday the injunction risked being overturned when Minister Dias Toffoli asked for opinions. Lula had already returned to the scene in a meeting with Rodrigo Pacheco in Planalto in the same week, pressuring him to put the issue to a vote, as revealed by this newspaper.
Why is Lula so busy overturning an institutional progress achieved by the country? The answer is simple: there are almost 600 positions in the game. But perhaps the main reason is to win the narrative. The overthrow of state law is essential to promoting the idea that Lava Jato and the corruption it disclosed was nothing more than a set-up.
Source: Terra
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