The PMDB party decided to appoint Senator Edison Lobão (MA) to chair the Constitutional, Justice and Citizenship Commission (CCJ), the most important of the Senate. Senator Raimundo Lira (PB), who was running for the position against Lobão, withdrew his application.
The CCJ defines PL 186/2014 that analyzes the legalization of casinos, bingos and local popular "jogo do bicho”. PL had already been approved unanimously by the Economic Development Commission, but was sent to CCJ in December 2016 after approval in the plenary of the House of a request of Senator Magno Malta (PR-ES).
Lobão said that if he is confirmed as president by the CCJ board, he will
speed the process of nomination of former Justice Minister Alexandre de Moraes
to the Federal Supreme Court (STF). The president of the Senate, Eunício
Oliveira, wants Moraes to be recapitulated by the CCJ until the 22nd, before
the recess of Carnival.
Indicated
Lobão welcomed the fact that he had been appointed "by acclamation" from the bench, since he came to the end of the selection process as the only candidate, but noted that he still needs to be confirmed by all CCJ members. He also said that he was willing to streamline the main themes of the year. The first of them will be vote of the name of Alexandre de Moraes for the STF.
The senator said that he has not yet considered names for the nomination
report, since he still must wait for the leadership of the other parties to
confirm the members of the CCJ. Regarding the project that defines crimes of
abuse of authority, Lobão assured that he will keep Senator Roberto Requião
(PMDB-PR) as rapporteur if he remains a member of the board.
Raimundo Lira
Raimundo Lira had anticipated that, if he was not the one chosen by consensus for the presidency of the CCJ, could lead to the dispute for the votes in the plenary of the commission. He also said que asked not to be nominated by Renan Calheiros as a member, so he would not be able to run for president before the board.
"If he´d send my name to the committee, he would agree to this
dispute, and if he did not, it would be understood as retaliation. This could
represent a discredit on the bench or the leader, so I took that responsibility
from him and made the decision,” he concluded.
Cohesive party
Renan Calheiros denied any outside interference on the PMDB's bench and said the party remains cohesive. In his view, the competition between the senators by positions and functions is natural and should not leave sequels in the relationship.
"The bench of the PMDB is large, it is natural that two or three run for the same position. At PMDB nobody presses anyone. We are all equal senators and we have the same right.”
Senator Romero Jucá (RR), who is PMDB's national president, also secured the bench's unity and said that Raimundo Lira is "prestigious" and that Renan is "doing well" within the group.
Source: GMB
