06/21/2024 – 18:55
The Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Senate decreed remote sessions to be held next week, due to the June festivities. This is yet another release that parliamentarians will have this year. The expectation is that the two Houses will vote on consensus agendas, without any controversial matters being discussed.
The brief recess is usually given to northeastern parliamentarians so that they can return to their cities and participate in the celebrations, which are one of the most relevant in the region throughout the year.
The president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG) was the first to guarantee the holding of remote sessions. As shown by Estadão Columnthe president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), resisted expanding the benefit to all parliamentarians, but ended up giving in after the Senate’s decision.
Behind the scenes, even deputies who are not from the Northeast told Lira that there are fairs in their states. In both the Senate and the Chamber, most party leaders are from the Northeast Region.
With this weekly break, congressmen will only have three more weeks of work, as the recess will begin on July 18th. The expectation is that after this period the Legislature will have little activity, due to municipal elections.
As shown by the Estadãothis year, especially the Chamber has been holding fewer deliberative sessions on Thursdays and granting more weeks off.
This happened in February, when the House only had a deliberative session on just one day, and twice in April, when deputies were first released from their duties in Brasília to deal with issues involving the closing of the party membership deadline, and then were able to remain for another week in their states at the end of the month, due to the May 1st holiday, which fell on a Wednesday.
Cláudio André, political scientist at the Federal University of Recôncavo Baiano (UFRB) states that the parliamentary amendments, boosted by Congress, gave new weight to the political role of deputies in the festivities.
“Parliamentary amendments have become the main asset of politicians, in their relationship with mayors. São João is the time for deputies to appear to the public, strengthen their relationship with mayors and all of this constitutes an important agenda for the municipalities”, he states. “It’s the country carnival. It also becomes an accountability event.”
In the Northeast, there are big parties with great attractions even in cities with less than 100 thousand inhabitants. It is common for deputies from the region to invite people to parties in their cities.
“I would like to take this opportunity to extend an invitation to everyone who is here in this plenary session and to those who are listening to us through the communication channels of this House: come to Ceará, come to Maracanaú and discover one of the biggest festivals of cultural representation in the country, our São João”, spoke the deputy Fernanda Pessoa (União-CE) this past Tuesday, 18.
Luciana Santana, professor of Political Science at the Federal University of Alagoas (UFAL) points out that, in a municipal election year, this brief departure of politicians in Brasília already represents the path to changing the focus on voters in cities across the country.
“It is a more difficult time for definitions, with political polarization that makes the articulation process more intense”, he states. The possibility of holding a remote session, in fact, was born from the Remote Deliberation System (SDR), which emerged as a way of maintaining Congress activities during the pandemic. “There is a very large task force mobilization, it is a crucial election for deputies to guarantee their re-elections.”
As shown by the Estadão, deputies and senators have 55 days off per year. This first one will take place between the 18th and 31st of July. Then, they have holidays from December 23rd to February 1st. During these periods, there are no plenary and committee sessions.
#Close #recess #Congress #hold #remote #sessions #due #June #festival