Without an agreement with the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), the proposed amendment to the Constitution (PEC) that provides for the financial and budgetary autonomy of the Central Bank (BC) was approved this Wednesday (10). Now, the proposal goes to the House Plenary. The vote was symbolic, that is, when parliamentarians did not register their votes individually. In this way, the result is defined by the general manifestation of parliamentarians. The economic team disagrees with the opinion presented by the rapporteur, senator Plínio Valério (PSDB-AM), with regard to the new legal nature conferred on the BC. The report transforms the BC into a public entity under a new legal regime. The government defends the classification of “special authority”. Entities linked to the financial sector defend BC autonomy In the regime defended by the government, the BC needs authorization from the Ministry of Management to hold competitions, which, according to the rapporteur, leaves the bank without administrative autonomy. According to the rapporteur's text, the BC can carry out contractions as it deems necessary, as long as it is supervised by the National Monetary Council (CMN) and the Economic Affairs Committee (CAE) of the Senate. The government prepared an amendment changing the legal nature of the BC, but, before formalizing, it forwarded it to the rapporteur for evaluation. Before the vote, Plínio Valério assured g1 that he would not accept the change proposed by the Lula government and accused the economic team of working to ensure that the PEC is not voted on. "I'm not even going to read it. It's absurd to say that, but I'm not going to read it. Why? Because they're going to suggest things that will delay. I'm not going to change it anymore, I'm not going to change the report anymore. If it changes again, there's another request for review. We're going to vote and it's what God wants. They [government] want it to be subordinated to the ministry", said Valério. PIX in the Constitution Included in the justifications for the United States government's proposed 25% tariff on Brazilian products, the PIX was included in Plínio Valério's report, which was approved this morning. He includes the mechanism in the Constitution. Today, PIX is regulated by BC infralegal rules. Valério's text provides for the guarantee of free access to individuals at a constitutional level and expressly prohibits any privatization, concession or transfer of its management to any entity other than the Central Bank itself. With the argument of sovereignty and financial inclusion, Valério demands that Lula and senator Flávio Bolsonaro, pre-candidate for president, support the PEC. “They both talk so much about defending the PIX, because the PIX is from Brazil, so they have to support the PEC”, stated the rapporteur. Servers Headquarters of the Central Bank in Brasília Raphael Ribeiro/BCB This Tuesday (9), BC managers released an open letter in which they "fully" support Valério's report. The document was prepared by the body's executive secretary, Rogério Antônio Lucca, and by department and cabinet heads, directors and the presidency. The managers defend that the PIX be strengthened by guaranteeing "adequate human and budgetary resources on a permanent basis" as there has been a "significant" increase in the institutions that are supervised by the BC. According to them, the reduction in personnel at the agency "threatens the Central Bank's ability to keep up with this growth and preserve the country's financial stability." Data from the BC reveal that, in 20 years, from 2006 to this year, the number of employees fell from 5,072 to 3,311. The president of the BC, Gabriel Galípolo, explained, in a Senate committee, on April 8, that this reduction occurred due to the retirement of almost a quarter of the employees. On the other hand, the National Union of Central Bank Employees (Sinal) has been taking a position against the current format of the PEC. "The true protection of the PIX's free, accessible and innovative capacity lies in preserving the public, stable and technically oriented nature of the BC, the authority responsible for its conception, operation and evolution", stated Sinal. Understand the PEC The proposal has been pending in the Senate since 2023 and removes the Central Bank from the Union budget. The text of the PEC defines the Central Bank as a “public entity of a special nature”, not linked to any ministry or public administration body, and guarantees budgetary and financial autonomy. In practice, this means that the autarchy would have its own budget, separate from the Union Budget, and will not need to submit to the rules of the fiscal framework — the set of spending limits that the federal government needs to comply with — until it replenishes its staff. After the recomposition of the staff, the BC's personnel expenses and social charges cannot exceed the value of the previous year corrected by the IPCA plus 2.5% — the same rule as in the fiscal framework —, unless expressly authorized by the Federal Senate. Operational autonomy In 2021, the National Congress approved a law that gave operational autonomy to the BC. With this, the president and the bank's eight directors — appointed by the President of the Republic and approved by the senators — began to have fixed four-year terms of office and guaranteed stability in their positions against dismissals for political reasons. One of the objectives of the change was to shield the body from party political pressure. Despite the autonomy in operations, the Central Bank continued to lack financial autonomy, which is now being discussed by the Senate.