RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The debate about the city of Rio de Janeiro becoming a Second Federal District has gained added substance with the introduction of a Proposed Constitutional Amendment (PEC) submitted by Federal Deputy Daniel Silveira (PSL-RJ).
Some of its proponents argue that the city would receive more investments from the Federal Government, thus enabling it to protect itself against potential crises of various kinds. According to Daniel Silveira, Rio is able to produce enough to sustain itself, and would not rely on public financial resources, as is currently the case with Brasília.
“Rio de Janeiro has more staff and public offices than Brasília, and we could also have some Ministries, in addition to the President himself dispatching around here. Because it is a world showcase in all aspects, its federalization would be beneficial in all senses,” explains the Deputy, stressing that it would be important to have politicians closer to and circulating among the population and that the change of capital would be important, including for the state of São Paulo.
“This would force officials to act more intensively and efficiently on the safety issue and all other needs. The state of São Paulo, due to its closeness and importance as business and financial capital, would also be extremely benefited, as well as having the city of São Paulo federalized in the future and, for instance, hosting the Federal Supreme Court; why not?” questions Silveira.
However, even before Silveira’s initiative, Federal Deputy Clarissa Garotinho (PROS-RJ), had already introduced a PEC in January this year for Rio to once again become the capital of Brazil. At the time, Clarissa said that this prospect represented a unique opportunity for the municipality.
“Rio has always played a decisive role in shaping the Brazilian state and national culture. It was the first emancipated capital of Brazil, in 1808, and since then it has consolidated itself as the country’s most emblematic showcase abroad. Not by chance, the city hosted some of the most important events in the world, such as Rio-92 and the 2016 Olympic Games. Unfortunately, such credentials were not enough for the federal government to view its former capital with due affection”, says an excerpt from an article submitted by the congresswoman to the newspaper O Globo.
In February last year, the organization ‘Rio, Capital Nacional’ corroborated the Deputy’s viewpoint:
“The proposal to create a second Federal District in Rio de Janeiro is not the pursuit of privileges, but rather a federative adjustment. Rio becomes a federal problem because the federal government is strongly present in the city, and has not left it until today. It is not only the fact that Brazil as an independent country was born in Rio de Janeiro. The massive federal presence of the federal government, with its dozens of offices and public properties, has preserved the local ”capital” political culture and prevents it from thinking of itself as a state like the others,” says ‘Rio, the National Capital’.
Christian Lynch, a historian and political scientist from the Institute of Social and Political Studies of the State University of Rio de Janeiro (IESP/UERJ), has been discussing the subject in his articles for years.
Benefits the city of Rio would have by being declared “co-capital of Brazil”, according to its proponent.
“Countries with two capitals, such as Chile, Bolivia and the Netherlands, have always existed and seem to be becoming a trend, with the most recent accession of Germany, Russia, South Korea, and very soon, Indonesia and Egypt. In these countries, one of these capitals concentrates political functions, and the other is administrative, and/or one is maritime, and the other is continental.
“The same would have happened with Rio and Brasília, were it not for the military dictatorship, which deliberately decreed the removal of all Ministries to the Planalto in 1967, and the forcible merger of the former State of Guanabara with the State of Rio in 1975.
“The acknowledgment of Rio as the second capital is nothing excessive. It simply states what Rio continued to be after 1960, in practice. To the world, the capital of Brazil is still Rio. It continues to use Rio to represent itself to the world in all major international events. The federal government owns 15 percent of the city.
“Of all that is concentrated between Brasília and Rio, 1/3 is found in Rio. Rio has more federal than state employees. Rio has more federal employees than Brasília. The navy’s headquarters are located in Rio. So Rio is in fact a second Federal District, either disguised as a city or state capital.
“The change would be good for Brazil and for Rio. Rio was modeled to be the capital of Brazil since 1808 and can do nothing else but represent the entire nationality. Moreover, no one imagined at the time of relocation the decadence it would experience. If it were today, Brasília would remain as administrative capital and Rio as political capital, and at least the city would have been strongly compensated, as Bonn was recently when the German government returned to Berlin.
“Bonn received billions of euros and continued to host one-third of the country’s Ministries. As for the proposal to bring the Congress back to Rio, it is not strange either. In Chile, the Congress is in one city (Valparaíso) and the government in another (Santiago). Lastly, it is worth recalling that Brasília is in the country’s geographic center, but not in its demographic center. It’s not a bad idea to bring a government closer to the demographic center.
“The constitutional change would be beneficial for the city because it would solve the chronic problem that Rio has become for Brazil since the artificial fusion with the old state of Rio. A state without its own identity was created, with a massive presence of the federal government, concentrating all the main states, in which the governor commands nothing. The merger experiment imposed by the dictatorship proved to be a failure.
“Rio’s decline virtually starts with the merger imposed by the dictatorship, because it created an ungovernable artificial state. The state of Rio also needs to free itself from this heavy burden that is this disguised Federal District, in order to progress. And Brazil needs to formally take over Rio de Janeiro, by ceasing to beat a dead horse with GLOs (Guarantee of Law and Order).”
Would this impact on more investments for the city?
“The city of Rio suffers because it is bleeding from two sides under the investment viewpoint. Since 1960 it has been bleeding to Brasília, with the absolutely unnecessary transfer of federal agencies there. Since 1975, with the merger, it began to bleed to São Paulo, with the transfer of companies there. Rio’s recovery begins to halt both bleedings, restoring the city’s business environment and a legal framework compatible with its role as capital still partly exercised.
“The new Federal District would allow the governor (current mayor) to increase revenue by concentrating state and municipal taxes, while also receiving oil royalties from the new State of Rio. It would have control over the state and civil police, which would all be re-established and could be used more effectively for municipal policy aimed at fighting crime and urban order.
“The restored business environment would interrupt the bleeding to São Paulo. Not to mention that the federal government would invest again in Rio, with a constitutional fund that would prevent it from spending uselessly on GLOs, federal interventions, etc. The federal government would also take better care of its tremendous heritage in Rio, left to rot, from hospitals to museums (simply recall the tragedy of the national museum).”
In your opinion, what is the real chance of this happening?
“The debate is just starting. The issue began to be raised last year when Deputy Clarisse Garotinho raised the issue of the lack of compensation for moving the capital in another PEC. This current PEC, by Deputy Silveira, still needs to be matured, discussed, and improved. Others will follow.
“The chances of the project thriving depend on the awareness of the municipal and state leaderships, on the one hand, and of the federal government and society itself, which must decide whether to continue waiting for the miracle of a city, which was modeled to be the capital for two centuries and continues to be so in good measure, learn to become a normal state, or a normal municipality.
“The issue would be better understood if considered in the package of other general issues, such as the proper management of megalopolis; the national problem of public safety, with the peculiarities of each region; the federative issue and the potential redesigning of the current states, etc. It is in this context that the solution of the second Federal District, undoing the work of the dictatorship and leading the Union to reassume its heritage in Rio, must be considered.”