Technical Notes

TN 119 - The Parliament of Mercosur:issues of implementation and perspectives

Advanced by Mercosur’s four member states, the proposal of creating a common Parliament for the Block generates now the need for general explanations to its citizens. These include which format the Parliament – foreseen for December 2006 – will adopt; which will be its functions; and which changes will be brought about, especially in regard to Brazil. To deal with the matter, the Institute of Socioeconomic Studies, Inesc, presents now a few considerations about the creation of this Parliament.

TN 127 - Democracy, Public Budget and the “Sword of Damocles”

The “Sword of Damocles” is one of the most famous expressions used to allude to the responsibility hovering over the shoulders of government authorities. It refers to a ancient Greek myth in which a courtier, having had the chance to sit on the throne for one day, regrets having envied the fortunes of this position once he saw the sword hovering above his head, suspended by a single horsehair.

TN 132 - PPA 2008/2011 and PLOA 2008 - The PPA targets and priorities for 2008/2011

In the presidential message that President Lula sent to the National Congress with the proposed Multi-Year Plan (PPA) 2008/2011, he stated that the aims of the PPA were to overcome the challenges of accelerating economic growth, promoting social inclusion and reducing regional inequalities. Technical note attached.

NT. 149 - 2008 Federal Government budget Execucion

This technical note analyzes the 2008 Budgetary Law. It discusses the federalgovernment undue inclusion of expenditures not actually disbursed in the final value ofthe budgetary execution. It also demonstrates how the government executes two budgetssimultaneously: the current year budget and the previous years’ undisbursed commitments.

NT. 150 - Public Budget, Rights, and Social Inequalities

The objective of this text is to raise awareness about the importance of budgetaryanalysis, from the human rights perspective, emphasizing gender and race dimensions.To what extent does the budget proposed by the federal government prioritize theallocation of public spending to policies that fulfill the rights enshrined in our FederalConstitution? To what degree do men, women, Blacks and whites have their rights ensured?

NT. 157 - Budget and rights

Budget and rights: developing abudget analysis method from theperspective of human rights