Luciana Vasconcelos
Reporter - Agência Brasil

Brasília – The Chamber of Deputies’ Constitution and Justice Commission (CCJ) approved this Wednesday (13), unanimously, the Constitutional Amendment Proposal (PEC) that vetoes nepotism in all levels of the government – Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary.

Existing Brazilian laws already prohibit hiring of relatives both at the Executive and the Judiciary, but, according to one of the members of the CCJ, Deputy Maurício Rands (Workers’ Party – PT – of the state of Pernambuco), these are isolated laws.

The President of the CCJ, Deputy Antônio Carlos Biscaia (PT, Rio de Janeiro) celebrated the approval at the Commission level. He affirmed that society wants to abolish nepotism, but he still expects difficulties in the final approval of the PEC. "This success is due to society’s mobilization, as it happened when people were against the increase in deputies’ salaries," said Biscaia.

Translation: Andréa Alves