Gilmar Mendes says that no one goes to 'Gilmarpalooza' to do 'the wrong thing'

Justice Gilmar Mendes, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), showed that he was not shaken by the nickname given to the Lisbon Forum, an event he helps organize. “If they want, they can continue calling it Gilmarpalooza,” joked the judge before laughing out loud during a press conference held this Friday, the 4th.

The judge celebrated the registration of 150 journalists and more than 3,000 participants in the Forum, including Brazilian politicians. “You see here several governors, senators and deputies as speakers and, later, as assistants, participating in the events,” said Mendes.

According to him, “no one comes here (to the Lisbon Forum) to do anything wrong”. Mendes highlighted that there is “total transparency” in the expenses to bring the speakers to the venue and stressed that “many people who come here come on their own. Therefore, we do not pay for travel. Except for those who need support”.

As Estadão pointed out, the Chamber paid for the travel of 30 of the 44 deputies who went to the Lisbon Forum and the Federal Senate, in turn, paid for the travel of six members.

This year, the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), ministers of President Luiz Inácio Lula Silva (PT), of the STF, of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ), of the Federal Court of Auditors (TCU), governors, among others, were present.

In the case of deputies and senators, accommodation, travel and other additional costs will be paid by Parliament, ensuring that congressmen can be reimbursed after presenting their invoices, which is why it is not yet possible to know what the cost of the event will be for the public coffers.

The Lisbon Forum

This year, the theme of the 13th Lisbon Forum was “The Changing World: Law, Democracy and Sustainability in the Smart Age”. The event is organized by the Brazilian Institute of Education, Development and Research (IDP) – which has Gilmar as a partner –, the Institute of Legal and Political Sciences of the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon (ICJP) and the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV).

During the meeting, politicians, businesspeople, judges and other Brazilian and Portuguese stakeholders gathered. Initially, the focus was to consider the law in both nations. However, as Gilmar Mendes himself stated, the content of the discussions became more complex.