President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva should have a new conversation with the president of the Senate, Davi Alcolumbre (União-AP) before sending the formal nomination of Jorge Messias to the Legislature for the position of minister of the Federal Supreme Court (STF).
The expectation is that the meeting will take place before the start of the Legislative year, on February 2nd. Last year, Alcolumbre showed resistance to the name of Messias and defended that the nominee should be his predecessor in command of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG).
Lula and Alcolumbre already met in December, close to Christmas, at Palácio da Alvorada to discuss the matter. But members of the government say that the President of the Republic intends to have a new conversation with the President of the Senate before formally sending the nomination of the current Attorney General of the Union.
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Messias’ nomination for Luís Roberto Barroso’s seat on the STF was announced by Lula on November 20th. Alcolumbre even scheduled the hearing at the House’s Constitution and Justice Committee (CCJ) for December 10, but the government ended up holding off on sending the formal presidential message of nomination due to resistance from senators to the Union’s attorney general due to the majority preference in the House for Pacheco. After being approved by the commission, the name of the Supreme Court nominee still needs to be put to a vote in the plenary.
The president of the Senate decided on December 2 to cancel the hearing, but criticized the government. “This omission, the exclusive responsibility of the Executive Branch, is serious and unprecedented. It is an interference in the hearing schedule, a prerogative of the Legislative Branch”, said the president of the Senate, in a note sent to senators at the time.
Alcolumbre faced new discomfort with Planalto at the beginning of January when the choice of Otto Lobo to head the Securities and Exchange Commission (CVM) was attributed to him.
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A minister even approached the president of the Senate to find out if the information was true, but Alcolumbe stated that he had not negotiated the position with Lula. Behind the scenes, government advisors say that Otto Lobo’s appointment had the support of businessman Joesley Batista, one of the controllers of the J&F Group. The company denied that Joesley made the appointment.
The procedure foresees that the nominee to preside over the CVM will be examined by the Senate’s Economic Affairs Committee (CAE) and then go through a vote in the House’s plenary.
