FGV Projetos, Instituto Brasiliense de Direito Público [Public Law Institute of Brasília] and University of Lisbon will host the fifth edition of the Brazilian-Portuguese Law Seminar this year, under the central theme “Constitution & Governance”. The event will be held between April 18 and 20 at the University of Lisbon, Portugal, bringing together authorities, lawyers, scholars and businessmen from Brazil and Portugal to discuss the main issues of modern constitutional law, based on each country’s legal systems. 

According to FGV Projetos dean, Cesar Cunha Campos, the event is important to promote cooperation and dialog between Brazil and Portugal. “The seminar allows the countries not only to share knowledge and experiences, but also join forces in the effort to improve both public and private governance and management models, as well as brainstorming new methodologies and practices based on Portuguese-Brazilian development,” said Campos.

In addition to Cesar Cunha Campos, the meeting will also be attended by Brazilian Supreme Federal Court (STF) justice and president of the Superior Electoral Court, Gilmar Mendes, STF justice Dias Toffoli, retired STF justice, Eros Grau, Superior Justice Court (STJ) justice and National Officer of the National Justice Council, João Otávio de Noronha, STJ justices Luis Felipe Salomão, Paulo de Tarso Sanseverino and Ricardo Villas Bôas Cuêva, and Brazilian Court of Auditors (TCU) justice Benjamin Zymler. The event will also feature ministers Osmar Terra (Social and Agrarian Development) and Bruno Araújo (Cities), former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, mayor of São Paulo João Doria, senator Aécio Neves, and the president of the National Commission for Constitutional Studies of the Brazilian Bar Association’s Federal Council, Marcus Vinicius Furtado Coêlho, among other guests.

Throughout all three days of the event, participants will debate subjects such as the crisis of representative democracy and governance of the political system, the electoral system and governability, and governance of public services by central administration. The event will also discuss other governance issues regarding metropolitan areas and urban mobility, the financial crime prevention and investigation system, the public health system, and regulatory authorities of economy and development. A roundtable will close the event debating whether coalitional presidentialism is a model that can be effectively reformed.

Click here to view the seminar schedule, available in Portuguese.