Catering Monitoring Consulting

Since the Legislative Assembly had a larger base of parliamentarians, there have been periods in the last few decades when the governors of the states have exercised great influence over the Parliament of Minas Gerais. The contractor’s projects were approved almost always without any restrictions. Because of this connection between the two powers, civil servants and even deputies used to wittily refer to the Assembly as a simple “department of the executive.”

Something unprecedented happened in the current legislature: unlike what had happened in previous governments, the president of the Minas Gerais State Assembly was not connected to the governor. And a good part of the parties, once allies of the governors, do not support the current government. Among them are PP, PTB, Tsidadaniya (former PPP) and MDB.

This happened to some extent due to the position of the new governor. Elected with a speech that largely echoed here in the state the same platform that Jair Bolsonaro took during the 2018 election campaign, Romeu Zema declared during the campaign that there would no longer be political “conchavos” in his government. .

At that time, segments of the right, characterized by anti-political discourse, viewed as “conchavos” alliances or agreements made between politicians and parties. These methods are supposed to be forms of corruption. Following this logic, the then candidate Zema introduced himself as a successful business administrator and promised to objectively and technically manage the state. Then there would be no need for negotiations, which were considered a typical practice of the “old policy”.

A government was installed that was not flexible and showed little readiness for dialogue. However, in the first few months of his reign, Zema’s rule was already under threat. There were only three deputies in his Novo party at that time. It would be very difficult to govern with such a disproportion of power, with only three allies in the universe of the 77 deputies that make up the Legislative Assembly. Supporters were deputies from the same party as the governor: Barto (today in the PL), Guilherme da Cunha and Laura Serrano.

While Zema was reluctant to join the parliamentarians, four blocs were formed in the Assembly for the first time. Prior to that, the formation of a maximum of three blocs was common: the opposition, the “neutrals” (as they called themselves) and the pro-government ones. As of 2019, by contrast, two “neutral” blocs (instead of one) have been formed in addition to the opposition and government blocs.

Each of the “neutrals” was led by MDB and PSD. In total, both political groups started the legislature with 40 of the 77 seats in parliament. Therefore, any governmental movement depended, first of all, on articulation with two groups of deputies. In cases where the opposition, due to a coincidence of interests, joined these groups claiming independence, the government had no chance of approving their projects.

To have a minimum of controllability, Zema mainly turned to PSDB. Thanks to its rich experience and political skill, this party managed to attract other abbreviations to the ruling base. Thus, in the first half of 2019, 21 parliamentarians were on the side of the governor. The PT-led opposition had 16 members. Thus, it was a minority bloc.

During 2019, the alliance with the PSDB became closer. For most of Zema’s term, this party was important to the government. It is worth recalling that Zema won the election in the second round against the PSDB candidate (former Governor Antonio Anastasia, now in TCU). Thus, it was not a very common case that a party that was defeated in an election then assumed a central role in the conduct of an elected government.

In the first half of 2019, Custódio Mattos (PSDB) took over the management of the Secretariat of the Government, the body responsible for the dialogue between the Assembly and the executive branch. Luisa Barreto (PSDB) also became Deputy Minister of Planning. Today she leads the portfolio.

Even though he managed to make a base, Zema still tried to maintain his position of not practicing “konchavos”. This means, at least apparently, that efforts to create a parliamentary base will not be made, since many other agreements were concluded in the process of forming the government. Without commitment or identification with the executive branch, parliamentarians inflicted severe defeats on the governor, whose projects to correct the state machine were generally unpopular and in many cases meant the demise of politics or public services. The single most effective government project approved in 2019 was the administrative reform, which reorganized the structure of government.

This situation of political weakness on the part of the executive branch is not common in recent history, except in very specific cases. The Assembly began to set the tone for politics in Minas. In addition to approving the mining project, the Parliament also held discussions on the public debt of Minas and the loss of revenue resulting from the Kandir law. He also increased his power over public accounts by including in the state constitution the government’s obligation to amend the budget for parliamentarians and blocs.

In addition, the Assembly attempted to further increase government oversight when it introduced secretaries of state accountability every four months in 2019.

Also in 2019, a draft was sent to the parliament, which the government considers the most important for the state. We are talking about joining the Tax Collection Regime (RRF) established by Supplementary Law No. 159 of 2017. It is assumed that the purpose of the RRF is to provide financial assistance to the state. In short, this is a temporary suspension of Minas’ debt collection to the federal government. On the other hand, the state must take a number of unpopular measures, including the sale of companies such as Cemig and Copasa, as well as a long-term ban on wage increases.

Joining the RFF has been put on hold until today in the Assembly and is facing significant voting difficulties even in this legislature.

In 2020, due to the pandemic, the government abandoned the protection of the SBR. Efforts have been focused on other fronts, especially health. In connection with the moment of the natural disaster, many government directives were approved. However, those not directly related to the pandemic, such as destination and resource checks stemming from the agreement with Vale, have been blocked or changed.

With the beginning of the slowdown of the pandemic, at the end of 2021, the government resumed the defense of the RRF. However, his weak political articulation prevented him from moving forward. Then the governor requested urgently in working out the tax regime. This regimental instrument prevents other projects from being considered in plenary until the urgent matter is assessed. However, the Assembly ignored the request and did not decide to place this project on an emergency basis.

In this regard, the Governor sued the Legislative Assembly, claiming that the Parliament violated the Minas Gerais State Constitution by failing to comply with its demands. The President of the Legislative Assembly, Agostinho Patrus (PSD), then responded to a request and explained the urgency of joining the RRF. In view of this, the governor withdrew from the trial.

Another confusion was caused by the executive branch, announcing a 37% increase in the salaries of security personnel in 2019. Zema was criticized even outside the state for this decision, which was considered reckless. There was a conflict that only recently found a solution, in 2022. After tense negotiations, the government achieved a 10.06% readjustment.

The State Parliament realized that this setting could not apply only to security servers. The Governor then again turned to justice to try to withhold the additional pay raise granted by the Assembly. In addition to the expansion of the groups that will receive the increase, the percentages proposed by the Assembly have reached 40%. This conflict ended only when the Federal Supreme Court granted Zema’s request and prevented the application of higher rates set by MPs.

During this period of litigation, the chief executive lost more support in parliament. Zema’s base has been reduced from 21 in 2019 to 16 this year. And to top it all off, it disbanded in April 2021. This is because with the departure of MP Neliando Pimenta (PSB), it was reduced to 15 parliamentarians. For it to exist as a bloc, an Assembly Regiment requires that it be composed of at least 16 members.

However, in early July, the ruling bench was reorganized. This is because União Brasil decided to join Zema. Thus, today there are 16 parliamentarians again on the side of the governor.

Now the “neutral” blocs have recently merged into a single bloc of 36 parliamentarians. It is still the largest political group in the Assembly. Since the beginning of the work of the legislative body, the opposition has received 7 deputies. Today it has 23 parliamentarians. At least since the redemocratization of the country, the opposition has never had such a large number of members. And for the first time, pro-government members are in the minority in the Legislative Assembly of Minas Gerais.

In the Contextus Bulletin, Nesp’s Public Powers Monitoring Advisory Board deepens its analysis of the Assembly’s situation in this legislature. The approach focuses on projects approved by MPs, as well as the transfer of resources promoted by them.

Letter: Marcelo Gomes – 09.08.2022
Source: ALMG/Daniel Protzner.