President Temer Tries Agreement with Legislative and Judiciary as Brazil's Branches Clash

12/16/2016 - 11h55

To avoid an even worse conflict between Brazil's branches of government, on Thursday, December 15, President Michel Temer (PMDB) worked to try to reduce the tension between the country's National Congress, the Supreme Court (STF) and the Public Prosecutor's Office.

To meet the requests made by lawmakers and senators, who phoned him throughout the day, Temer met with Attorney General Rodrigo Janot and later had lunch with Supreme Court Justice Gilmar Mendes.

President Temer also invited the president of the House of Representatives, Rodrigo Maia (DEM-RJ), and of the Senate, Renan Calheiros (PMDB-AL), for a conversation at the Planalto Palace, the official workplace of the President of Brazil, before the ceremony to announce a new microeconomic package.

In the meetings, Temer requested more dialogue between the three branches of government and showed he is worried as the institutional crisis continues to deepen.

President Temer fears that the current instability may affect the federal government and the agenda it has supported.

On Wednesday, December 14, in private conversations, Temer had not taken a position against the proposal but said that it was not the right moment to vote the bill on authority abuse, which was done later that night by the president of the senate.

Temer believes the initiative only worsened the crisis between the Legislative and Judiciary branches which began in October, when Senator Renan Calheiros criticized the decision of a judge who authorized the Federal Police to enter the senate to carry out a warrant of arrest against four legislative police officers.

President Temer also used the meeting with Attorney General Rodrigo Janot to criticize the leak of some of the content of the plea bargains, such as that of Brazilian constructor Odebrecht.

Cited 43 times by a former Odebrecht executive, Temer wants to prevent the content of these statements from leaking, especially when they involve the federal government.

Folha verified that, during the meeting, Temer and Janot demonstrated they will try to end conflicts.

Janot said that the Public Prosecutor's Office has never seen President Temer as an enemy of the Lava Jato operation, while Temer said he does not intend to take revenge as a consequence of the investigations.

Translated by THOMAS MUELLO

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