Deforestation, trust in institutions among issues to be examined before admission

06/07/2022

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OECD’s building in Paris — Foto: Hervé Cortinat/OECD

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) will examine from now Brazilian practices and policies in negotiations to evaluate the country’s admission to the organization. The assessment will range from trust in institutions to deforestation.

Valor found that the roadmap with the terms, conditions and process for Brazil’s ingress, has already received the green light from the OECD Council of Representatives, and will now be formally approved by the ministers of the 38 member countries on Thursday in Paris.

The way in is identical for the five membership candidates — Peru, Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania besides Brazil. Argentina had its invitation frozen as Alberto Fernández’s government did not commit to the organization’s values under the conditions the current members demand.

The list of core principles for technical evaluation in the different OECD committees is long and includes new recommendations approved recently by the entity.

A new subject for which Brazil and the other four candidates will be evaluated, in the field of governance, is people’s trust in their institutions. For the OECD, trust is the basis of the legitimacy of public institutions and of a functioning democratic system, and is crucial to maintaining political participation and social cohesion.

Trust is important for the success of a wide range of public policies that depend on behavioral responses from the public, such as respect for regulations and the tax system. In the long run, trust is considered necessary to address social challenges such as climate change, an aging population, and the automation of labor.

In the field of governance, the evaluation will also focus on issues such as the structure of governments, including separation of powers, and the integrity of the public sector, including the application of principles of high standards of behavior in public institutions.

Unsurprisingly, the environmental issue takes up more space on the roadmap for Brazil and the other candidates. Its policies and practices will be compared to OECD best practices. In fact, the environmental policy and chemicals committees have 40% of the OECD recommendations. The candidates will be examined based on at least 20 items on the environmental front, proportionally the largest number.

In the case of Brazil, the issue takes on a greater dimension because of the distrust with which the Bolsonaro administration is viewed on the environmental front. The map mentions the issue of deforestation in relation to the environment and agricultural production, according to a source.

The OECD wants to know what happens in the candidate country in line with the commitment made in Glasgow last year to “working collectively to halt and reverse forest loss and land degradation by 2030.”

The Environmental Policy Committee will also check how Brazil applies the principle that the polluter, rather than government subsidy, pays for prevention and control measures against pollution. It will also assess whether sectoral policies take into account the need to internalize environmental improvement. In the Agriculture Committee, one question is whether sectoral policies contribute to sustainability and improved environmental performance, and “green growth.”

In the discussion about the roadmap for Brazil, France was particularly active on environmental and agricultural issues, but without blocking the negotiation.

In the Fiscal Affairs Committee, the elimination of double taxation on income and capital will be examined, adopting the OECD convention model. On the financial front, the blockchain issue will also enter the evaluation, for example.

Economy Minister Paulo Guedes and Chief of Staff Ciro Nogueira will be at the OECD on Thursday for the approval of the roadmap.

From the 20th to the 24th of this month, a mission from the OECD, called the kick-off mission, will take part in the OECD/Brazil Forum with representatives from the Brazilian government, for the negotiations for the country to fit into the OECD standards.

Mathias Cormann, Secretary-General of the OECD, will be received by President Jair Bolsonaro on the 22nd in Brasília, symbolically launching the country’s admission process to the organization.

Source: Valor International

https://valorinternational.globo.com/