SAO PAOLO, Brazil (Reuters) — Thousands took to the streets of Sao Paulo on Sunday (November 27) to protest against a proposed constitutional amendment which would set caps on public spending over the next 20 years.
Demonstrators also chanted slogans against President Michel Temer as they marched through Sao Paulo’s central Paulista Avenue.
The proposal, which passed the lower house of Congress as PEC 241 in October and now sits before the Senate as PEC 55, would tack public spending to the inflation rate over a 20 year period with the chance of a recalculated base-rate after 10 years.
Critics of the move argue that education and health will be worst hit under the move and have likened the PEC (Proposed Constitutional Amendment) to “the end of the world”.
The demonstrations come just as President Temer faces a deepening crisis over new corruption allegations against members of his government that are causing new political uncertainty which is delaying economic recovery after a severe recession.
“We are here fighting to put pressure on the Senate to block the passage of these measures just as Temer doesn’t have the slightest conditions to govern. He’s shown he doesn’t have the slightest legitimacy to remain atop the presidency which was already illegitimate because of the coup and the complaints which have put the government on the hot seat. We aren’t going to allow for these measures, which attack public services and workers’ rights, to be approved,” the head of Brazil’s Intersindical labour group, Edson Carneiro Indio said.
Brazil’s political establishment is under fire for trying to shield itself from the sprawling corruption investigation surrounding state-controlled oil company Petrobras that threatens to implicate more than 100 politicians for taking kickbacks.
Temer, who replaced impeached leftist Dilma Rousseff earlier this year and has vowed to clean up government, lost a fourth Cabinet minister to corruption allegations on Friday (November 25).
“When we go out to the streets the politicians start to tremble. They tremble from fear of the strength of the people. And it is this social pressure that we want to apply with the government and Congress and everything else,” the president of the National Students’ Union, Karina Vitral said.
The PEC additionally establishes a series of penalties for areas that do not meet the spending caps.
Though health and education were initially meant to meet the standards as soon as the proposal was passed, the administration has said both would only have to meet the caps by 2018 if the PEC is approved.