The budget and the veto on royalties will be voted on Tuesday.

Ivan Richard*
Reporter from Agência Brasil

Brasilia - Congress will attempt to vote on President Dilma Rousseff's vetoes of the Royalties Bill and the 2013 Budget next Tuesday, the 5th, at 19 pm. The decision was announced by the presidents of the Senate, Renan Calheiros (PMDB-AL), and the Chamber of Deputies, Henrique Eduardo Alves (PMDB-RN), one day after the Supreme Federal Court overturned the injunction that mandated voting on the vetoes in chronological order.

According to Calheiros, the first item on the agenda will be the vetoes on royalties, followed by the Budget. "The legislative process cannot be left unfinished. We will vote. Our concern is how best to conduct the session of the National Congress. We will follow the rules and we will vote," he said.

"I am optimistic and I believe this vote will be simplified. Our job is to ensure that this vote is simple and respected," emphasized Henrique Alves.

Regarding the other vetoes, Renan Calheiros said that the voting agenda will be defined later, after discussion with the leaders of their respective Houses. He added that of the more than 3 vetoes pending analysis by Congress, 1.468 may be considered invalid, meaning they are ineffective.

However, parliamentarians from the Rio de Janeiro and Espírito Santo delegations, oil-producing states, promise to make the vote difficult. "We're going to war. We're going to obstruct this vote in every way possible, because there are no vetoes more important than others, and this decision [to vote on the royalties veto] is unconstitutional," said Congressman Alessandro Molon (PT-RF). He was the author of the request submitted to the Supreme Court for the vetoes to be analyzed in chronological order.

* Contributed by Marcos Chagas

Edited by: Talita Cavalcante