The government of Minas Gerais asked the Supreme Federal Court (STF) this Friday (19) for a new deadline to renegotiate the debt with the federal government. The amount of the debt is R$ 165 billion.
On Tuesday (16), Minister Edson Fachin decided extend to August 1st the deadline for the state to join the Union’s tax recovery regime.
The 90-day deadline for joining would end today. The date was granted in April by the rapporteur of the case, Minister Nunes Marques. Fachin issued the decision in his capacity as vice-president of the Court. Due to the July recess, it is up to the acting president to decide on urgent matters.
In the new request, the state government defends the extension of the deadline to August 28, when the Court must judge Fachin’s individual decision in the plenary.
“The request for extension is a crucial matter to avoid legal uncertainty, as well as the risk of collapse of the state of Minas Gerais, if the effects of the second precautionary measure are not extended until the end of the trial that will begin on August 28, 2024”, argued the state.
The requests from the Minas Gerais government reached the Supreme Court after the Attorney General’s Office (AGU) understood that a new extension of the deadline for Minas Gerais to join the Fiscal Recovery Regime (RRF) should be conditional on the return of payment of the debt to the Union.
In the Legislature, the President of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco, presented the last week a bill to try to settle the states’ debt with the Union, which provides for payment in installments over 30 years. The debt of all states amounts to more than R$760 billion. Minas Gerais, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul and São Paulo account for almost 90% of this amount.
