The "role" of former presidents and directors of the Central Bank: working behind the scenes for the Constitutional Amendment on financial autonomy.

Brasilia - After the president of the Central Bank (BC), Gabriel Galípolo , asked for "help" in the Organized Crime CPI so that the Senate would vote on the proposed amendment to the Constitution (PEC) for financial and administrative autonomy for the monetary authority, former presidents and directors have intensified pressure on senators and mobilized public opinion so that the text is finally approved in the House.

In the most prominent example of this movement, the former president of the Central Bank, Roberto Campos Neto , has been calling senators from both the opposition and the government seeking support for the approval of the constitutional amendment. At the request of the rapporteur, Plínio Valério (PSDB-AM), he has already spoken with parliamentarians who are closer to him, working behind the scenes and in a discreet manner.

The proposed constitutional amendment, authored by Senator Vanderlan Cardoso (PSD-GO), has been under consideration in the Senate since 2023, when Campos Neto was still president of the monetary authority. After several difficulties, the rapporteur presented his new opinion to the Senate's Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ) a week ago, awaiting the committee's president, Otto Alencar (PSD-BA), to schedule the vote and for the rapporteur to read his opinion.

“What I told him was to talk to some senators he knows so he could put it to a vote in the CCJ,” Valério told NeoFeed . “Roberto Campos [Neto] has been following up and talking to senators who are friends.” Campos Neto did not respond to attempts to contact him by the reporter.

According to Valério, who has spoken with some of them, especially the former presidents of the Central Bank, they have adopted a more emphatic stance in recent days, in publications or by making more frequent public statements in defense of the proposal, in a posture of "concern" about the future of the institution.

In an interview with NeoFeed , former Central Bank president and former Finance Minister Henrique Meirelles said he understands that this is a moment for leaders and authorities with experience in managing the monetary authority to take a stand and call for the approval of the PEC (Proposed Constitutional Amendment).

"I write articles, I've been to hearings in the Senate, and whenever I have the opportunity to talk to senators, I do so. But not only former presidents of the Central Bank, all those who have the possibility of influencing and understand the importance of this for Brazil must have an active role in making this happen now," Meirelles stated. "If necessary, I can eventually go to Brasília again [to talk to senators]."

Meirelles reports that the Central Bank has already been demonstrating difficulties in managing large demands such as the PIX system and even in maintaining its staff with the migration to the private sector.

“It’s difficult because it’s an election year, and the issue is being discussed in Congress by parliamentarians who will be strongly focused on their constituencies. But it’s possible, and I hope the PEC will be approved this year,” says Meirelles, who headed the agency from 2003 to 2011.

"An independent central bank is the solution in virtually all relevant countries," he adds.

At the end of last year, Meirelles signed a manifesto initiated by the National Association of Auditors of the Central Bank of Brazil (ANBCB), along with several former directors, such as Aldo Luiz Mendes and Luiz Fernando Figueiredo , and entities like the Brazilian Federation of Banks (Febraban).

Besides former presidents, those who have served on the board of the Central Bank have also been mobilizing public opinion in favor of the approval of the PEC (Proposed Constitutional Amendment). In a recent article on his blog on CNN Brazil , former director Tony Volpon launched the slogan " approve PEC 65 now " and warned that the monetary authority is experiencing a "personnel blackout due to a shameful lack of budgetary resources."

“We may be politically polarized, but I don’t know anyone who dislikes PIX. Perhaps this issue alone will be enough for our political class to finally act on this necessary improvement to our institutional framework,” he emphasizes.

Senator Tereza Cristina (PP-MS), leader of the PP in the Senate, who is in opposition to the government and in favor of the PEC, admits that the topic has been gaining momentum in the Senate corridors in recent weeks and that many senators have been approached to debate the issue. She argues that the PEC should move forward to the plenary, despite the election year.

“Regardless of the PEC [Proposed Constitutional Amendment], the Central Bank and agencies like the CVM [Securities and Exchange Commission] need more structure to oversee the financial system in Brazil. So we need to approve it. I have always been in favor of this PEC,” Tereza told NeoFeed .

Against

Obstacles to the proposed constitutional amendment were expected in a year with a shorter election calendar, but the Master Case scandal has sparked an urgency in the debate on the topic, which has actually been dragging on for almost two and a half years. Resistance from the government and factions within the Workers' Party (PT), however, continues to create uncertainty for the proposal to move forward.

As NeoFeed showed last week, just like the former Finance Minister, Fernando Haddad, the new Minister of Finance, Dario Durigan , has also signaled his opposition to the proposed constitutional amendment, according to rapporteur Plínio Valério. And there is still no date set for when the proposal will be scheduled for a vote in the Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ) and its new report will go to a vote.

If it passes the committee, the text would have to go to the plenary session, where the president of the Senate, Davi Alcolumbre (União-AP), has already indicated that he will schedule it promptly. After that, the PEC still needs to pass through the Chamber of Deputies.

But the opposing pressure doesn't come only from government factions. There is also resistance within the civil service. After the release of the most recent opinion from the rapporteur of the proposed constitutional amendment, the National Union of Central Bank Employees (Sinal) reinforced its opposition to the amendment.

According to the union, the proposal does not guarantee a strengthening of the Central Bank, "but rather a potential increase in the risk to the functional integrity of the Monetary Authority's technical staff." Furthermore, it would cause a "disproportionate increase" in the power of the agency's board of directors, which would be responsible for hiring, creating, and eliminating positions, it argues.

"Without the guarantees of the statutory regime, the technical autonomy of civil servants — protection against possible political and economic pressures — would be severely weakened."

According to Sinal, there is no need to amend the Constitution to expand the administrative and financial autonomy of the agency. Funding could come from replenishing staff through more public recruitment processes.

"The budgetary problems could be resolved through sub-constitutional means, such as, for example, the creation of an accounting technical reserve, formed from the results of the Central Bank itself, for exclusive use for discretionary expenses," the union argues.

Special nature

The new report, presented on Thursday, April 16, proposes, in addition to the financial, operational, and budgetary autonomy of the Central Bank, that the institution cease to be an autonomous agency and become a special type of public entity. It also mandates that the president and all directors be required to appear before the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies to give an account of their actions.

The text also stipulates that the limit for the Central Bank's expenses in a given year cannot exceed the value of the previous year, adjusted for inflation (IPCA) plus 2.5%. It also determines that the regulation and operation of PIX (Brazil's instant payment system) is the exclusive responsibility of the Central Bank.

“Without control of its own budget and funding from its own revenues, the monetary authority remains vulnerable to budget cuts and indirect forms of political pressure, which compromises the credibility of long-term targets and the mitigation of the problem of temporal inconsistency,” argues the rapporteur in this most recent version of his opinion.