Chief of Staff condemns use of impeachment as political weapon
Chief of Staff Jaques Wagner
Chief of Staff Jaques Wagner has said that impeachment cannot be misused as tool for political dispute, and that the governing coalition must keep a close watch on the issue in Congress.
“It's so strange that anyone should have impeachment as an aim in their political actions. People are coming up with things to artificially create grounds for a proceeding,” he said Thursday (Oct. 8), after the first meeting of the new ministers with President Dilma Rousseff.
“It [impeachment] has become the subject of everyday conversation when it should be an objective consequence of serious accountability issues,” the Chief of Staff said, worried about filings with the Chamber of Deputies to oust Rousseff.
“The President of the Chamber of Deputies has shelved some of these filings and we'll see what happens in the upcoming weeks. Everyone is aware of the opposition's agenda. So I think the governing coalition should watch their moves very carefully,” Wagner said.
Regarding the Federal Court of Accounts (TCU) ruling against the government's 2014 accounts issued Wednesday (7), the Chief of Staff said he will not take it as a defeat for the government until Congress gives its final word, and does not see it as reasonable ground for an impeachment bid.
“It's clear to any constitutionalist that events that occurred before January 2015 cannot be claimed to make the case [for impeachment]. I believe Congress will abide by the Constitution, despite the fuss,” he argued.
Allies
About the disagreements within PMDB, the largest party in the governing coalition, Wagner said it would be “delusive” to think the government could still rely on full support of the party. “There's a group [within PMDB] that has, since 2014, taken a stance against ours. So we don't have this delusion that we can count 100% on PMDB at this point. Such a notion would be unrealistic and we're not guided by that.”
Wagner said that besides watching out for the opposition's moves, the government's challenges in Congress are to ensure the lawmakers uphold the presidential vetoes on measures that could otherwise undermine the government's austerity policy, and to approve the Provisional Levy on Financial Transactions (CPMF), a tax the government is trying to revive as an attempt to secure a healthy balance of accounts in 2016.
*With additional reporting by Paulo Victor Chagas
Translated by Mayra Borges
Fonte: Chief of Staff condemns use of impeachment as political weapon
