In RS, Lira and Pacheco defend making fiscal rules more flexible for financial assistance to the state; Fachin speaks of a ‘special and transitional’ legal regime | Policy

On a visit to RS, Lula talks about the flood situation in the state

The delegation met with governor Eduardo Leite (PSDB) and mayors. Afterwards, the authorities made a statement to the press.

Leite stressed that this is a “war scenario” and defended that tax legislation be made more flexible along the lines of what occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic. Rio Grande do Sul has been dealing with financial difficulties for years and makes periodic agreements to renegotiate its debt with the Union.

“Public authorities here need to see and understand, President Lira, President Pacheco, […] The public sector is suffocated by this situation and will not be able to provide answers if we do not address exceptional actions also from a fiscal point of view”, stated the governor.

Arthur Lira stated that deputies need to discuss from the next few days a “totally extraordinary” measure to guarantee financial aid to the state and recalled Congress’s position on the pandemic.

“I think, President Pacheco, that our responsibility this week will be perseverance, discussion and direction so that we can develop a completely extraordinary measure,” said the president of the Chamber.

Pacheco, in turn, highlighted that the time is to “remove bureaucracy from the shelf and table” and cited the example of the PEC de Guerra, which authorized the use of public money outside the rules of fiscal control during the pandemic.

“We are in a war and, in fact, in a war, President Lula, I know that is your feeling, there are no limitations, there are no legal restrictions in common times. There is a need to remove bureaucracy from the shelf and table, the locks and the limitations so that Rio Grande do Sul lacks nothing for its reconstruction. We did this during the pandemic with great pride within the scope of the National Congress with a proposed amendment to the constitution that we called the PEC of War, with numerous exceptional legislative measures”, declared Pacheco .

Representative of the STF at the meeting, Fachin mentioned the possibility of a transitional legal regime for judges to make decisions that facilitate the reconstruction of Rio Grande do Sul.

“Here we are to express, more than our solidarity, here we are together, the Judiciary is together with the other powers of the Republic and will be together especially in this perspective of adopting a special emergency and transitional legal regime for the environmental catastrophe in Rio Grande of the South”, said Fachin.

The president of the TCU, Bruno Dantas, made the body’s technicians available and guaranteed ‘priority’ to topics related to the Rio Grande do Sul tragedy.

Dantas followed the line of other authorities and said that in “exceptional moments we must also use more flexible rules so that the ultimate objective, the protection of citizens, is met efficiently and effectively”.

This Sunday, the president said that the Ministry of Transport will have money to restore highways and stressed that “there will be no impediment from bureaucracy for us to recover the greatness” of Rio Grande do Sul.

Lula also mentioned the states’ debt to the Union and assured that Minister Fernando Haddad (Finance), present at the meeting, is “very sensitive” to the issue.

“I hope he [Haddad] make an agreement in advance with the states, because there is no point in the states not having any investment capacity”, stated Lula.