Brasília, April 6, 2004 (Agência Brasil) - Despite a promise to avoid direct attacks on President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva during the ceremony instating Edson Vidigal, yesterday (5), as president of the Federal Appeals Court (STJ), Roberto Busato, national president of the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB) was sharply critical of the Judicial Reform and the federal government's economic policy.

Speaking alongside President Lula, Busato called for more daring in the management of the Brazilian economy. As for the Judicial Reform, the president of the OAB said he is opposed to various items in the proposal presented by the government, but his chief criticism had to do with the binding opinion ("súmula vinculante"). In his view, the binding opinion will restrict the independence of judges, since it will require lower courts to follow the decisions of higher courts when judging cases involving the same questions. "We shall continue to fight against it in the National Congress, the adequate arena for the democratic resolution of conflicts," he said. Busato recalled that in 1998 Lula, who was a candidate at the time, handed the OAB a document in which he declared that he was against the binding opinion.

In accordance with the protocol of the STJ inauguration ceremony, President Lula did not deliver an address and, therefore, did not reply to Busato's criticisms. The new president of the STJ, however, rushed to President Lula's defense and called for greater harmony among the three branches. In Edson Vidigal's assessment, instead of quarreling in public, the members of the Executive, Legislative, and Judiiciary should work together.

Vidigal's ascension to the presidency of the STJ gives President Lula a new ally in the fight to win approval for changes in the Brazilian Judiciary. Although they declare themselves favorable to the Judicial Reform, the majority of courts are opposed to external control, one of the items most desired by the federal government in the reform proposal. The STJ has already taken a stance against the Judiciary's being controlled by individuals who are "foreign" to the magistracy, but Vidigal insists on defending external control.

The Minister of Justice, Márcio Thomaz Bastos, praised the new STJ president's words. "Vidigal's speech was brilliant and substantial. I believe that Vidigal will add strength to Judicial reform." The president of the Supreme Court (STF), Maurício Corrêa, also commended Vidigal's pronouncement, but, prior to leaving the STJ, he reiterated his opposition to external control of the Judiciary.

In his inaugural speech, Vidigal promised to endeavor to end the slowness of the courts and to eliminate bureaucracy throughout the court system. He pointed out that, to serve the Brazilian population adequately, the country would need at least four thousand more federal court circuits. "We need to make judicial decisions while people are still alive to benefit from them and to establish fairer laws to replace the outdated ones that straightjacket and delay decisions in the courts."

Vidigal is a journalist and lawyer. He has been a member of the STJ since its creation by the 1988 Federal Constitution. He was a member of the city council of Caxias (MA), his home town. In 1964 he was arrested and deprived of his political rights by the military coup. Vidigal is also a professor of Penal Law and Electoral Law at the University of Brasília, a member of the Maranhão Academy of Letters, and was consulting analyst for the pilot project carried out by the Serpro (Federal Data Processing Service) to computerize the country's electoral process.

Translator: David Silberstein