On 9 February, the government led by President Jair Bolsonaro unveiled its legislative priorities for this year, which will be the administration’s final year in office as Brazil will hold a general election in October.
Analysis:
With Bolsonaro expected to seek a second term, but polls currently indicating that his re-election chances do not look good, the government’s priorities for this year include a number of projects which clearly cater to Bolsonaro’s base, notably the agribusiness sector. But many of these projects elicit strong criticism from both the opposition and civil society.
- The Casa Civil chief-of-staff’s office published 45 priority projects in the official gazette yesterday, 39 of which are already under consideration in either the senate or the federal chamber of deputies, and which span a variety of areas including, inter alia, the economy, the reduction of the cost of doing business in Brazil, social issues, environmental issues, security & defence, agriculture, and mining.
- “These are projects which have a clear line of action: to improve the functioning of the state; break down barriers to economic activity to modernise Brazil and create jobs; and simplify life for citizens,” Ricardo Barros, the government leader in the chamber of deputies, said.
- One of the projects listed, PL 6299/02 which revokes existing legislation regulating the use of pesticides, was approved in the chamber yesterday. Supporters of the bill say it will modernise Brazil’s agricultural sector; critics have dubbed the bill the ‘poison package’, with environmentalists and scientists warning of the risks that deregulating pesticides would pose to both the health of Brazilians and the environment. The bill must still be voted on in the senate.
- Other controversial measures listed in the government’s priorities include a bill which would change the rules on the demarcation of indigenous territories, to the detriment of the indigenous (PL 490/07); plans to open up indigenous land to commercial mining (PL 191/20); and the flexibilisation of gun laws.
Looking Ahead: The government’s wish-list is a long and possibly unattainable one, particularly for an election year when members of congress are known to neglect their legislating duties to focus on their own election campaign.
