Most members of the Evangelical Parliamentary Front support Bolsonaro’s environmental agendas

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The majority of FPE members voted to approve the new laws, a series of five projects that are important for Brazil as a whole but are stamped by the left as a threat to the environment and native people.

In addition to PL 191, this list of projects includes PL 3729/2004, which deals with environmental licenses, PL 6299/2002, PL 2633/2020, and PL 490/2007, which amends the Indian Statute.

Of the 196 deputies who signed the FPE, 131 (66%) supported the urgency of PL 191/2020, according to the Chamber of Deputies.

Another bill, PL 3729/2004, passed in the House of Representatives on 13 May 2021 and currently under consideration in the Senate, relaxes environmental licensing regulations in Brazil. Again, most of the signing FPE deputies – 131 (66%) of 196 – were in favor.

PL 6299/2002, recently approved by the House of Representatives, leads to more flexible procedures with pesticides, among other things.

The bill, which still needs to be considered in the Senate, was supported by 135 (68.8%) MPs from the Evangelical Parliamentary Front.

The Senate is also dealing with PL 2633/2020, a project that allows the legalization of land titles on Union land through self-declaration.

Its passage in the Chamber of Deputies on August 3, 2021, was supported by 136 deputies (69%) who signed the FPE.

The fifth project of the package was approved by the Committee on Constitution, Justice, and Citizenship (CCJ) and is waiting for a vote in the Chamber of Deputies. PL 490/2007 intends to amend the Statute of Indians, confirming the thesis of the temporary landmark.

Of the total 40 votes cast in favor of the project in the CCJ last June 23, 17 came from deputies who signed the FPE.

Of the total 21 votes against, only one came from a deputy who signed the FPE.

The Evangelical Parliamentary Front (FPE) includes 196 deputies (14 are no longer in office) and seven signatory senators, according to the Chamber of Deputies website.

Although it is described as evangelical, it also includes deputies who profess Catholic or spiritual beliefs or who profess no religion. There are 19 parties represented in the group.

The Liberal Party (PL), the current party of President Jair Bolsonaro, has the largest representation with 42 members. The Republicans, affiliated with the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (IURD) and chaired by Bishop and congressman Marcos Pereira, and the Social Democratic Party (PSD) follow next with 29 and 28 signatories, respectively.

Both the PL, the Republicanos and the PSD voted in favor of the bills mentioned in the report.

The Evangelical Parliamentary Front is not necessarily synonymous with the evangelical faction. “While the FPE is a formal entity guided by the legal provisions of the National Congress, the Caucus brings together deputies and senators who have a more solid articulation around common agendas,” explains Lívia Reis, coordinator of religion and politics at the Institute for the Study of Religion (ISER).

According to the office of the FPE president, deputy Sóstenes Cavalcante, who is also one of the presidents, the evangelical group currently includes 121 deputies (110 deputies and 11 senators).

The report also analyzes the voting behavior of the 110 members of the Evangelical Caucus on four bills voted on in the House of Representatives.

In PL 191, 82 (74.5%) voted yes and 11 (10%) voted no. In PL 3729/2004, 82 (74.5%) voted for and 7 (6.3%) voted against. 79 (72%) were in favor of PL 6199 and 12 (11%) were opposed. For PL 2633, 87 (79%) were in favor and 05 (4.6%) were opposed.

SPEECHES

Sóstenes Cavalcante assumed the presidency of the Evangelical Parliamentary Front on February 16, replacing Cezinha Madureira (PSD-SP). The congressman positions himself as a “conservative politician, rather right-wing” and “liberal on the economy and conservative on customs.”

In a recent interview, he said the goal of his mandate was to “focus on the election to expand the bench with as many colleagues as possible.”

He supported Bolsonaro’s election as president in 2018 but had signaled his closeness to the head of state for several years. The congressman is supported by Silas Malafaia, pastor of the Assembly of God Victory in Christ.

Speaking to Pública, Sóstenes said that there are no specific guidelines for FPE members on votes that deal with environmental issues.

Voting to support Bolsonaro’s agendas, he said, is a sign of synergy between a large part of the evangelical bench and the current government.

“We are not making a decision of the FPE on this issue, but since at least 80% of the front is made up of members of parties allied with the government, we tend to vote to reduce these demarcations, depending on the projects being worked on in parliament.

It is not a decision of the bench or the FPE, but a decision of the party benches, and if it is of interest to the government, it becomes a decision of those who form its base,” says the MP.

The congressman also notes that evangelical leaders in Congress are “liberal on the economy and progressive on economic projects.” “If we have to ally with any segment, it should not be with domestic segments that want to impede the progress and prosperity of their people,” he says.

He also says that he has already met with indigenous leaders and that, in his opinion, “the issue of using traditional territories is not always a peaceful issue within the indigenous community.”

He also says that he sees “no environmental damage at all in the PLs’ proposals.”

Protecting the environment is part of his religiosity, according to Sostenes, but he disagrees with what he calls a “leftist and ideological environmental agenda.”

“We will read with the necessary responsibility, but we will not read in the same book of leftist agenda or foreign-backed NGOs, which unfortunately happened with the environmental agenda in Brazil at the times before the era Bolsonaro,” adds the deputy.

Among the bills he proposed in the current legislature and analyzed by Pública, only one deals with environmental issues.

Proposal PL 2014/2021 seeks to guarantee the right to bear arms to environmental inspectors from the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) and the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio).