Pacheco defends pendant for judges and prosecutors, but criticizes super salaries

The president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), defended this Friday (25) the granting of pendants in the salaries of judges and prosecutors, as a way of differentiating the remuneration of young professionals from more experienced ones.

More specifically, Pacheco defended the implementation of the so-called Quinquennium PEC, which establishes a subsidy for the monthly salaries of judges and prosecutors every five years. The proposal had been abandoned for years in the Senate, but discussions have returned in recent days, after pressure from sectors of the benefited categories.

The speeches of the president of the Senate took place during a lecture on the morning of this Friday (25) for prosecutors of the Public Ministry of Ceará, in Fortaleza. Also present at the panel of speakers was the president of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), Minister Luiz Fux.

Pacheco initially defended the benefits for prosecutors and judges. He said that the Public Ministry and the judiciary, as well as the National Congress, are targets of a “crusade” and called for “Brazilian institutions to value each other”.

“As soon as we confuse the functional prerogatives of the Public Ministry and the judiciary with privileges, this is the path to chaos. Because this is not a privilege, they are functional prerogatives”, he said.

The Senate president then said he was against super-salaries in the public service and stated that distortions regarding housing assistance for these categories have already been corrected recently. However, he criticized the lack of progression in the remuneration of judges and prosecutors throughout their careers, stating that the National Congress is acting on this issue.

“On the other hand, we have to understand that it is also not logical, it is a distortion, for a professional, a prosecutor, at the beginning of his career to receive the same remuneration as someone at the end of his career”, he said.

“So this logic, far from the spotlight, far from the most vulgar, less grounded discussion, this is a logic that materializes in a proposal for an Amendment to the Constitution that has already been approved by the Constitution and Justice Committee of the Senate and is being debated in the college of Senate leaders. This is to be able to say that, at the same time that we are curbing distortions, that they impose and establish salaries that are not compatible [com as funções]remunerations that are not compatible, while we fight for the end of housing assistance, with the agreement of the Public Ministry and the judiciary, on the other hand, to stipulate a mechanism for structuring a career”, he added.

Pacheco justified his position by stating that the lack of structuring —he did not use the terms subsidies or quinquennium— is even more necessary in current times of high inflation. He said that many law students should not pursue these careers with deteriorating salaries, which would lead to the “bankruptcy” of these institutions.

“From the moment, with all that we’re seeing in Brazil, including crisis inflation, difficulties, from the moment we don’t have a structuring, an appreciation of these careers, those colleagues of ours who sat on the benches of the law school , certainly unanimously they will not want to be prosecutors and judges and then we will establish the bankruptcy of these institutions, the debasement of these institutions”, he said.

PEC 63, called the Quinquennium PEC, was introduced in 2013 and spent the last few years practically forgotten in the Senate. Recently, it began to receive a series of amendments, which evidences the emergence of debate on the subject.

The main point is the addition to monthly salaries of 5% subsidy every five years, and up to seven increases can be achieved throughout the career. In addition, it also assures members of the judiciary and the Public Prosecutor’s Office that their previous legal performance —such as in the legal profession— can be used for the purposes of counting the time of exercise.

Some senators criticized the resurgence of the Quinquennium PEC, in particular citing the moment of economic difficulties that Brazil is going through. For this reason, some of the amendments presented were intended to extend the benefit to the entire civil service, as a way of promoting equality and also of making it difficult to process.

“Although the objective of the proposal is commendable, to create a mechanism that can reward these public agents for their dedication and, at the same time, promote an increase in their remuneration, it is understood that the moment the country is going through is not adequate”, emphasizes Senator Alessandro Vieira (PSDB-SE), who presented an amendment extending the five-year period to all public servants, although he is against granting the benefit at this time.

“However, if PEC 63 is approved, it is important to recognize that the problems that the proposal seeks to correct are not exclusive to the judiciary and the Public Ministry, but affect the entire civil service”, he concludes.