Alcolumbre signals to allies dissatisfaction with Lula’s nomination of Messias to the STF
The appointment of Jorge Messias to the Federal Supreme Court (STF) deepened the uneasiness between the Palácio do Planalto and the president of the Senate, Davi Alcolumbre (União-AP). According to allies, Alcolumbre was not consulted by Lula before the decision — formalized this Thursday — and had already expressed discomfort with the way the process was being conducted. His favorite, and also that of most senators, was senator Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), with whom Lula met at the beginning of the week before finalizing the name of Messias.
Messias will need to strengthen ties with Alcolumbre, who had Pacheco as his favorite
Attorney General of the Union is the third chosen by the president in this term
Appointed by Lula for Barroso’s vacancy, Messias can stay in the STF for up to 30 years
Minister of AGU was the third name chosen by the president in this term
The choice of the Union’s attorney general, seen as a gesture of personal trust by the president and a signal to the evangelical electorate, contradicts the explicit preference in the Senate. Since Monday, when Lula informed Pacheco that he would follow “another path” for the vacancy, centrist and opposition parliamentarians have sought out Alcolumbre to express discomfort. According to participants, the group questioned the fact that the Senate was being treated “as the final stage of a decision already taken” and complained about the public exposure of articulations that are traditionally conducted in a private manner.
According to these interlocutors, Alcolumbre does not intend to support Messias, will not work for his approval and will not vote for the nominee. Dissatisfaction was also fueled by the actions of the government leader, Jaques Wagner (PT-BA), accused by senators of having “moved too much” in favor of the name of Messiah, contrary to the prevailing sentiment in the plenary. When contacted, Alcolumbre did not respond.
The scenario makes Messias’ hearing, at the Constitution and Justice Commission (CCJ), more sensitive than usual. It will be up to the collegiate to evaluate the nominee before the final vote in the plenary, where at least 41 votes are needed for approval. The tendency is for Messias to begin an intense round of conversations with senators in the coming days, in an environment described by Alcolumbre’s allies as “very bad” and “the most tense of this term” in the relationship between the government and the Senate.
Paulo Gonet’s reappointment to the Attorney General’s Office, approved by just 45 votes — compared to 65 the previous year — raised the first alarm in Planalto that the Senate had changed its position. The result was treated internally as a deliberate gesture of discontent. For leaders of the House, the significant drop in the score showed that the political environment was more tense, that the government no longer had an automatic margin for approvals and that some of the senators wanted to make a public statement after weeks of wear and tear with the Executive’s coordination. The widespread assessment is that the Senate no longer acts as a “security cushion” for the Lula government.
