2023-10-21 12:20:31
Reproduction: Ricardo Stuckert
President Lula vetoes the time frame PL
President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva decided to partially veto the bill (PL) that establishes that indigenous peoples only have the right to lands that they occupied or claimed until October 5, 1988, the date of promulgation of the current Federal Constitution. This thesis is known as a time frame.
The announcement was made at a press conference by ministers Alexandre Padilha (Institutional Relations), Sônia Guajajara (Indigenous Peoples) and Jorge Messias (General Attorney’s Office), late Friday afternoon (20), at Palácio da Alvorada, official residence.
The sanction with vetoes will be published in an extra edition of the Official Gazette of the Union (DOU) because this Friday is the last day of the deadline that the President of the Republic had to make a statement.
Bill (PL) 2,903/2023 was approved by the National Congress on September 27th. A week before approval in the Legislature, the Federal Supreme Court (STF) had invalidated the time frame thesis. The Court’s ministers, however, defined compensation for bona fide occupants. At the time, the president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), denied that the approval of the project was to defy the STF.
“President Lula, today [20]the date of sanction of the PL that deals with the time frame, decided to veto the time frame, fully respecting the Brazilian Constitution, including the recent decisions of the STF on constitutionality on this topic”, stated Padilha.
Asked about the expectations of the indigenous movement, which demanded a total veto of the PL, minister Sônia Guajajara said that the non-vetoed points do not harm indigenous policy. “What remains there is what is in some legal provision, which will not change anything to what we already have guaranteed in the Federal Constitution, and now in the latest decision of the STF. We are totally open to dialogue with the indigenous movement, to clarify and build, as well as with the National Congress itself”.
Among the articles maintained in the text are those that, according to Alexandre Padilha, “reinforce the transparency of the entire process of study, declaration, demarcation, which reinforce the effective participation of states and municipalities throughout the entire process, which regulate access to the indigenous area, of employees who are providing important services to this population. And the beginning of the article that validates the importance of economic and productive activities in this Indigenous Land, developed by the indigenous community,” he stated.
The reasons and justifications for the vetoes will be informed in the text to be published in the DOU, which should occur this Friday.
In addition to the time frame, already considered unconstitutional by the STF, the possibility of paying compensation prior to demarcations was vetoed, as explained by the Union’s attorney general, Jorge Messias. The possibility of reviewing demarcations already carried out, cultivation of transgenics, mining and construction of highways on indigenous lands without authorization from indigenous communities were other vetoed points, according to the ministers. Messias said that the partial sanction respected the separation of the Three Powers and defended the decision taken.
“President Lula very clearly complied with what was decided by the STF and vetoed two other blocks of articles that contradicted indigenous policy, and another block that created legal uncertainty for the application of the demarcation process”, he highlighted.
Veto analysis
With the partial sanction of the project by President Lula, the vetoes return to be analyzed by parliamentarians in a session of the National Congress, which takes place with the participation of deputies and senators.
The veto is the disagreement of the President of the Republic with a certain bill approved by the Legislative Houses of the National Congress. The Constitution determines that it be considered by parliamentarians in a joint session, requiring an absolute majority of votes from federal deputies (at least 257) and senators (at least 41) for its rejection.
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