Politics

Lula allies want to erase the Bolsonaro years with the stroke of a pen. Here’s how

The next government plans to revoke a slew of Bolsonaro decrees. But while some are symbolic moves, others would have serious impacts and are already drawing political opposition

Lula allies want to erase Bolsonaro years with massive revocations
Jair Bolsonaro signs an accord in June 2022. Photo: Isac Nóbrega/PR

In his first year as president, Jair Bolsonaro revoked over 2,000 executive orders created by previous governments. Every 100 days in office, he would repeal a few hundred decrees. 

Now that the far-right leader is on his way out of office, a left-wing party in President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s coalition wants to proceed in the same manner, doing away with the decrees and regulations passed by Mr. Bolsonaro since 2019.

A think tank connected to the Socialism and Freedom Party (Psol) has proposed a revogaço (a massive revocation) in order to “revert the destruction caused by the Bolsonaro administration.” Its 192-page report includes suggestions for the next government to repeal measures in 20 areas, including environmental policy, healthcare, human rights, education, Armed Forces, and the economy.

Congresswoman Gleisi Hoffmann, chair of Lula’s Workers’ Party and a key figure in the transition team, recently said her staff intends to “use” the Psol report. Lula is to take office on January 1, 2023.

What revogaços mean

There have been many revogaços in the past that were effectively harmless. In March 2021, for instance, President Bolsonaro revoked 348 executive orders in one stroke of the pen. All of them dated back to 1991 and imposed budgetary restrictions that were no longer relevant. 

Revoking old decrees is promoted as a way of simplifying the regulatory framework. Measures that are no longer valid can be discarded.

Other regulations caught in the net of revogaços are arguably more akin to personal preference than policy. 

In April 2019, only four months into his term, Mr. Bolsonaro revoked daylight savings time, which is not codified into law and thus subject to the president’s decision. Daylight savings time was adopted in 1985 and applied until early 2019.

A few days after winning the runoff on October 30, President-elect Lula asked his Twitter followers whether they would like daylight savings time to be reintroduced (66 percent of respondents said yes).

A study by the Mines and Energy Ministry found that the measure no longer helps save energy, due to the peak of consumption now happening early in the afternoon due to the use of air...

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