1. OVERVIEW – 49 Chapter 1 Overview Brazil is a major emerging economy and is playing an active role in international fora, including in the area of integrity and preventing of corruption. This chapter introduces the federal public administration and the core integrity actors within the federal executive and the federal government. The key organisations for fostering integrity in Brazil’s federal public administration are: the Office of the Comptroller General of the Union, the Public Ethics Commission, the Department of the Federal Police, the Office of the Attorney General of the Union, and the Office of the Federal Public Prosecutors. The National Strategy Against Corruption and Money Laundering, adopted in 2003, brings together these and around 60 other public organisations. Within the federal government the National Congress – supported by the Federal Court of Accounts – and the federal judiciary provide a check and balance over the federal government and a complementary role in defining and enforcing integrity. The chapter also briefly introduces the main characteristics of the media, private sector and civil society that play a critical role in achieving a cleaner public administration. OECD INTEGRITY REVIEW OF BRAZIL: MANAGING RISKS FOR A CLEANER PUBLIC SERVICE © OECD 2012 50 – 1. OVERVIEW Introduction Brazil is one of the leading emerging economies in the world, South America’s most influential economy and biggest democracy. The Brazilian economy has strong gross domestic product (GDP) figures and decreasing unemployment, along with low lending rates and a pro-active government. Over the last 5 years, Brazil’s GDP grew 4.7% on average; 6.7% of GDP belongs to agriculture, 28.0% to industry including construction and 65.3% to services. Underpinning Brazil’s economic resilience during the last decade has been significant improvements in its fiscal performance, expansionary fiscal policy, strong monetary easing, the expansion of credit supply from public banks and financial stability. However, the 2009 OECD Economic Survey of Brazil (OECD, 2009a) concluded that, despite considerable progress in many areas, substantial opportunities remain for making government operations more cost-effective. Brazil spends a high share of GDP on selected government-financed programmes compared to OECD member countries and its emerging-market peers, but outcome indicators are often comparatively poor. Incentives to enhance the efficiency of government operations are necessary and call for concerted action across many policy areas – among them integrity and the prevention of corruption. The federal government of Brazil has undertaken continuous reform over the past decade to enhance integrity and prevent corruption within its public administration. These reforms focus on: i) increasing transparency and direct citizen oversight over public service delivery; ii) introducing risk-based internal control within public organisations; and iii) promoting high standards of conduct among federal public officials. Earlier efforts to improve control over public expenditure and to modernise the public administration, in the 1980s and 1990s, respectively – as well as in response to a number of corruption cases that captured public concern – spurred these actions. The federal government is also working to develop a co-ordinated approach for creating a culture of integrity and preventing corruption. Establishing the Office of the Comptroller General of the Union (Controladoria-Geral da União) and the Public Ethics Commission (Comissão de Ética Pública) have been core elements of these efforts. These central authorities have taken actions to consolidate the national systems for administrative discipline, ethics management and the ombudsman (citizens’ relations) function in 2007, 2008 and 2009, respectively. This chapter provides an overview of: • the federal government of Brazil, including the machinery of government; • the core integrity actors within the federal public administration; • the contribution of the National Congress and federal judiciary in supporting integrity and the prevention of corruption within the public administration; and • the contribution of non-governmental actors in demanding and overseeing a cleaner public administration. The federal government Like many Latin American countries, Brazil has a presidential political system. The President of the Republic performs the functions of head of state and head of the federal government. The President and vice-president are popularly elected on the same ticket for OECD INTEGRITY REVIEW OF BRAZIL: MANAGING RISKS FOR A CLEANER PUBLIC SERVICE © OECD 2012 1. OVERVIEW – 51 no more than two consecutive four-year terms. The National Congress (Congresso Nacional) consists of the Federal Senate (Senado Federal) and the Chamber of Deputies (Camara dos Deputados). The Federal Senate is composed of 81 representatives from the 26 states and the Federal District, elected in single-seat constituencies. Federal senators are popularly elected for an eight-year term, with elections staggered so that two- thirds and one-third are elected alternatively every four years. The Chamber of Deputies is composed of 513 deputies popularly elected to 4-year terms by proportional representation. Table 1.1. System of executive power Presidential1 Dual executive2 Parliamentary3 Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Korea, Mexico, Australia, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, France, Portugal United States South Africa, Spain, United Kingdom Notes: 1. Under a presidential system, the executive and members of the legislature seek election independently of one another. Ministers are usually not elected members of the legislature, but are nominated by the President and may be approved by the legislature. 2. The dual executive system combines a powerful President with an executive responsible to the legislature, both responsible for the day-to-day activities of the state. It differs from the presidential system in that the Cabinet (although named by the President) is responsible to the legislature, which may force the Cabinet to resign through a motion of no confidence. 3. Under a parliamentary form of executive power, the executive is usually the head of the dominant party in the legislature and appoints members of that party or coalition parties to serve as ministers in the Cabinet. The executive is accountable to parliament, which can end the executive’s term through a vote of no confidence. Source: Adapted from OECD (2009), Government at a Glance 2009, OECD Publishing, Paris, doi: 10.1787/9789264075061-en. There are 3 tiers of Government in the Brazilian federation: the federal government, 26 states and the Federal District (in which the capital Brasília is located), and 5 564 municipalities.1 Table 1.3 maps the responsibility for policy and service provision across levels of government. There is, however, no explicit assignment of functions by level of government in the 1988 Federal Constitution. Previous studies by the OECD have noted that there is an unequal devolution of public service responsibilities across Brazil’s three tiers of government. This disequilibrium is largely attributed to social and economic disparities between states and municipalities which precluded a uniform transfer of responsibility for expenditure to all federal units. Moreover, devolution of these responsibilities has not always been matched by a corresponding transfer of personnel and equipment (OECD, 2001). While municipal and state governments are responsible for a large share of service delivery, interaction between citizens and the federal public administration has expanded through a number of federal programmes. For example, the Lula administration (2003-10) has strengthened and consolidated a number of federal programmes, among them Family Grant Programme and the National STD/AIDS Programme (see Case Studies 2 and 3, respectively). Table 1.2. Structure of government Federal Unitary Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Mexico, Chile, France, Italy, Japan, Korea, Portugal, Spain, South Africa, United States United Kingdom Source: Adapted from OECD (2009), Government at a Glance 2009, OECD Publishing, Paris, doi: 10.1787/9789264075061-en. OECD INTEGRITY REVIEW OF BRAZIL: MANAGING RISKS FOR A CLEANER PUBLIC SERVICE © OECD 2012 52 – 1. OVERVIEW Table 1.3. Responsibility for policy and service provision across levels of government Function Responsibility for policy and control Responsibility for service provision Defence F F Foreign affairs F F Foreign trade F F Monetary and financial policies F F Immigration F F National roads F F, S Interstate roads F F, S, L Social security F F, S Railways and airports F F, S Natural resources F F, S Sector policies F, S F, S Environmental protection F, S F, S Health F, S F, S, L Social assistance F, S F, S, L Police F, S F, S, L Education F, S, L F, S, L Fire protection F, S S Water and sewerage F S, L State road S S Local roads S L Parks and recreation L L Notes: F = federal, S = state, L = local (i.e. municipal). Source: OECD (2001), OECD Economic Surveys: Brazil 2001, OECD Publishing, Paris, doi: 10.1787/eco_surveys-bra-2001-en. Machinery of government at the federal level Brazil’s federal public administration plays an essential role in policy making and implementation. It provides evidence and impartial analysis to the government so that it can make informed decision making. It also ensures the effective and timely implementation and delivery of policies to citizens. Federal Decree-Law no. 200/1967