‘Exoneration’ generates complaints, and servers see the risk of the machine crashing at the beginning of Lula 3

The exoneration of 1,204 people who held positions of trust in the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government generated backstage complaints and sparked an alert among career civil servants about the risk of a machine crashing at the beginning of the management of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).

Several occupants of senior management and advisory positions at levels 5 and 6, the highest in the public administration hierarchy, were dismissed.

An extra edition of the 15-page Official Gazette published this Tuesday (1st) brings together the dismissals and, to a lesser extent, some appointments of people already chosen by the new government. The chief minister of the Civil House, Rui Costa, has already said that new layoffs will be carried out in the coming days.

The dismissal of secretaries and direct advisors of Bolsonaro’s ministers was expected, but what surprised was the decision of the new ministers to “pass the rule” and remove at once assistant secretaries and undersecretaries, positions responsible for more operational day-to-day functions from the government.

In the Ministry of Finance, the National Treasury was one of the few preserved bodies. The new secretary in charge of the body, Rogério Ceron, has kept all the undersecretaries so far – only the former secretary, Paulo Valle, and his deputy, Janete Duarte, were exonerated.

At the SPE (Secretariat for Economic Policy), in turn, the incumbent, Guilherme Mello, has already been appointed, but the undersecretaries —who draw up economic and credit policies, for example— have all been exonerated.

The body was once commanded by Adolfo Sachsida, one of Bolsonaro’s most loyal allies. Even after becoming Minister of Mines and Energy, Sachsida maintained ascendancy over the SPE, whose active undersecretaries had been maintained since his administration.

Mello, in turn, is still working on composing his team, as well as other new members of the economic team.

At the Ministry of Planning, the SOF (Federal Budget Secretariat) is without a holder after the expected dismissal of its previous holder, Ariosto Culau. His deputy was also dismissed.

Although these bodies have an already established structure of career civil servants, some functions, such as signing documents and opinions, are the responsibility of their managers. In the midst of embezzlements, any urgent matter may require the involvement of higher authorities —in the Treasury, the executive secretary, Gabriel Galípolo, or even Minister Fernando Haddad (PT).

In general, there are subordinate managers in the middle of the field precisely so as not to accumulate demands or delay the progress of internal processes.

In the specific case of SOF, there is still an unusual situation. Ceron, nominated to be head of the National Treasury, was appointed special secretary for the Treasury and Budget —a position that was foreseen in the structure of the former Ministry of Economy, now dismembered.

Therefore, the assessment of technicians is that, while the personnel impasses remain, it may fall on him the responsibility of signing documents related to budgetary credits —a function not foreseen in the attributions of the position to which he was invited.

The concern among technicians exists because the new Lula government has already started “at 100 kilometers per hour”. In his inauguration speech, Haddad promised the first measures for the coming weeks.

In addition, there are a number of pending issues to be resolved, the main one being the sanction of the 2023 Budget. The President of the National Congress, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), held off sending the official autograph until this Monday (2 ) so as not to run the risk of Bolsonaro interfering with the sanction or vetoes of the document.

The government now has 15 days to carry out its analysis of the text, a task that usually brings together the Civil House and the economic portfolios – with the split of the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Planning must be involved.

In the areas that usually participate in this analysis, there are still no replacements for people who have been exonerated from their positions.

Members of the current government, heard with reservation, recognize that the moment of passing the baton is complicated, mainly because many people left their functions and their substitutes have not yet arrived to continue the work. The pace of tasks is “unsafe”, and “certainly there is something that will delay”, said a source.

Depending on the delay in replacements, other activities may be compromised, such as the preparation of the first budget programming decree, which determines how much ministries can spend over the months.

Although there is a significant concern with the lack of definition in bodies linked to economic issues, the dismissals were broad and affected several ministries, such as the Civil House and the AGU (Attorney General of the Union).

In 2019, the Bolsonaro government experienced a similar situation, albeit to a lesser extent, after the Civil House decided to dismiss 320 civil servants from commissioned positions. The measure brought problems to the functioning of the folder, harming technical analyzes and the functioning of the Ethics Council of the Presidency.

The then-Minister of the Civil House, Onyx Lorenzoni, announced the dismissals saying that he intended to remove those nominated by PT members from the staff.