Opinion: Brazil’s “Covid CPI” – a “tempest in a teapot”, “terminating in pizza”

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – (Opinion) Under Article 58 §3 of Brazil’s 1988 Constitution, either house of Congress can create an investigative committee called a “Comissão Parlamentar de Inquérito” (abbreviated CPI).

Article 58 §3 sets out only three prerequisites for any CPI: (a) a petition signed by one-third of the members of the congressional body; (b) a set of facts to be investigated; and (c) a time limit. Most constitutional theorists hold that if all three factors are present, the legislature must create the CPI; however, there are disputes as to the timing and the scope.

In early 2021, some 30 senators, almost all of whom are in opposition to the Bolsonaro administration, submitted a petition to the President of the Senate calling for a CPI to investigate (mis)management and omissions by the federal government in fighting the coronavirus pandemic.

The President of the Senate, reputedly a Bolsonaro ally, buried this petition at the very bottom of his “to-do” list.

Two Senators then filed a petition for habeas corpus at the STF, asking the Judiciary to order the Legislature to do its duty and install the CPI. The initial analysis of the “Coronavirus CPI” fell (by lot) to Justice Luis Roberto Barroso, a former constitutional law professor.

Barroso had three options: reject the petition; accept the petition and issue the order; take no decision and pass the buck to the full 11-member court.

Unsurprisingly, given his history as an “activist” judge, on Sunday April 11, Justice Barroso chose to grant the petition and issue the order, effective immediately.

To no one’s surprise (except possibly Barroso’s), all [political] hell broke loose on Monday.

Bolsonaro himself, his army of supporters in Congress and the general public, complained shrilly of the “dictatorial” order imposed by a “well known communist” that violates the separation of powers and endangers the institutional fabric of the nation. One Senator even broadcast some of the juicier parts of a talk with Bolsonaro he had surreptitiously recorded.

The President of the Senate, circumspectly, said he would obey the order even though he completely disagreed with the decision. The STF Chief Justice, circumspectly, announced he would submit Barroso’s decision to the full court on Wednesday, April 14.

Whew!

Standing back a bit, without knowing how the full STF will vote, this writer would like to submit the following points to the debate.

1) Barroso’s decision was technically correct, following prior STF precedent.

2) Barroso’s decision was politically disastrous, adding more fuel to the many brush fires burning among the branches of government.

3) The so-called “Covid CPI”, once installed, will come to nothing at all, and the “perfect storm” will have been only a “tempest in a teapot”.

As to the third point, history is important. Brazil’s Congress has installed a great number of CPIs, and only two of them have ever produced any results: the PC Farias CPI in 1992 that resulted in ex-President Fernando Collor resigning before his impeachment; and that in 2005, which produced proof of the “Mensalão” scandal, which permanently tarnished ex-President Lula’s image.

All other CPIs, without exception, have served only to allow members of the Legislature to give inflammatory speeches, full of sound and fury yet signifying nothing, all designed to increase the orator’s media exposure.

Politically, it is clear that the proponents of the Coronavirus CPI have one objective – the defeat of President Bolsonaro, and the election of ex-President Lula in 2022. They know well – as does Bolsonaro himself – that Donald Trump would have been re-elected if not for his disastrous (mis)handling of the pandemic in the USA.

The strategy the Senate majority will use to avoid this result is the expansion of the scope of the CPI’s investigation to include state and municipal governments, not just the federal government.

The tactic the Senate majority will use is the composition of the CPI itself. Under Senate rules, political parties appoint all committee members, in proportion to the number of their senators. The parties of the proponents of the Coronavirus CPI have only a small number of senators, who will be outvoted at every turn.

Thus, as in so many other “teapot tempests” in Brazilian society, this too will eventually “terminate in pizza” where the contenders, having worn each other out, head to the local pizza parlor to settle things amicably over a few beers and slices.