Governança metropolitana face à implementação do Estatuto da Metrópole: um estudo da região metropolitana da Grande Vitória/ES

Abstract

In Brazil, metropolitan governance has been the object of apprehension by government managers given the relevance of Metropolitan Regions (MR) for socioeconomic development. In this context, it is possible to point out important advances in the creation of an institutional design that collaborates with responses to the numerous challenges inherent in the theme, among which, the Metropolitan Statute (EM, initials in Portuguese) beneath the format of the Federal Law No. 13.089, of January 12, 2015. The purpose of the EM is to establish general guidelines for metropolitan governance, mainly through the preparation and approval of the Integrated Urban Development Plan (PDUI, initials in Portuguese). The PDUI is configured as the maximum instrument for the organization, planning and execution of public functions of common interest in the municipalities that are part of the MR. For the implementation of the Plan, the clause of administrative improbity (Administrative Improbity Law — Law No. 8.429/92) was added as a penalty for public managers who failed to prepare and approve the PDUI by January 2018. However, the changes promoted by the Federal Law No. 13,683, of June 19, 2018, place the Metropolitan Statute in a threatening position, since the concerned legislation removed the punishment in the case managers fail to take the necessary measures to generate the PDUI. It is argued, therefore, that the institutional and political impasses to the implementation of the Metropolitan Statute will be increased given the current modifications in Law No. 13,683/2018, which inserted the element of discretion over the main instrument of its implementation. Thereat, the PDUI now occurs for the convenience and opportunity of public managers when establishing governance relations, in the search to solve the public management of common interests in MR. For that manner, the present study aims to investigate the metropolitan governance in its interface with the guidelines of the Metropolitan Statute, considering the aspects of institutional organization, management and metropolitan planning, particularly in the Greater Vitória Metropolitan Region (RMGV, initials in Portuguese), considering that the managers responsible for the RMGV have advanced in the implementation of the EM, through the elaboration and approval of the PDUI, in the first term determined by the Law No. 13.089/2015. For this purpose, the theoretical and methodological basis that supports this analysis has as reference an adaptation of the “Governance Structures” model established by João Seixas, Rosa Branco and Sol Garson (2012). The methodology, following the guidelines of an interdisciplinary research, presents a qualitative approach, using bibliographic (metropolitan governance) and documentary (legislation on EM and RMGV) research. The research was complemented with semi-structured interviews conducted with actors responsible for the management of the RMGV and with participation in the preparation of the PDUI. At the end, it was found that coercion positively moved the institutional aspects for the elaboration of the PDUI, bringing the RMGV closer to the consolidation of the EM. However, the non-implementation of the Plan and the non-creation of the executive body formed by the representatives of the Executive Powers (state and municipal) distances the Region from the effective implementation of the guidelines of the Metropolitan Statute.