Lula contradicts PT speech by saying he will choose new PGR alone

The statement by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) that he intends to choose the next Attorney General of the Republic (PGR) without taking into account a triple list of the National Association of Attorneys of the Republic (ANPR) contradicts a 2019 PT position At the time, when former president Jair Bolsonaro took a similar attitude, the party classified the case as the “biggest setback in 20 years”.

Lula’s affirmation of choosing the next Attorney General of the Republic on his own was given in an interview to BandNews radio on Thursday (2). The decision is viewed with concern by the National Association of Public Prosecutors (ANPR), which intends to draw up the list anyway.

In a note sent to People’s Gazette this Friday (3), the ANPR says it intends to talk to Lula so that the successor of Augusto Aras in the PGR, starting in September, is chosen from the list formulated by the entity. The list is made up of three names elected among the members of the association, with a score that expresses the preference of the attorneys.

Sought by the report, the PT’s press office did not comment on the contradiction.

It is the role of the Attorney General of the Republic to receive complaints and file lawsuits against the president.

“The ANPR defends the triple list and will continue to demonstrate that this model allows transparency in the definition of the Attorney General of the Republic. In addition, we believe that the public process of debates with the career and society, culminating in the definition of the list after broad scrutiny, is the procedure most in line with the 1988 Constitution. a productive dialogue around this theme”, said the association in a note.

In the beginning of the afternoon, the president of the ANPR, Ubiratan Cazetta, classified Lula’s speech as a “cold shower”, in an interview with GloboNews. But, also as “an open channel so that we can have a republican public debate about what are the criteria for choosing an Attorney General of the Republic”, he said.

PT was critical of the choice of PGR outside the triple list

The choice of the Attorney General of the Republic among the names on the triple list of ANPR was a tradition among presidents, as in Lula’s first two governments, in the government of Dilma Rousseff (PT) and that of Michel Temer (MDB). During the administrations of Lula and Dilma, those chosen were always the first names on the list, such as Claudio Lemos Fonteles, Antônio Silva de Souza, Roberto Gurgel and Rodrigo Janot.

Temer opted for the second name, that of Raquel Dodge. The change in the criteria for choosing the Attorney General of the Republic began in the government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL). The name chosen by him, Augusto Aras, was not on the ANPR list. He was deputy prosecutor and came to be criticized by supporters of the former president. The dispute for the position, at the time, provoked reactions in the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) between the prosecutors and also from the then prosecutor, Raquel Dodge, who was trying to be reappointed to the position.

The decision was heavily criticized by the PT at the time, which classified the breach of tradition as the “biggest setback in 20 years”, as announced on the party’s website.

“During their governments, Lula and Dilma always respected the triple list of the ANPR and, most of the time, they chose the most voted by the prosecutors”, says the party’s note.

Lula’s decision to use a more “personal” criterion in choosing instead of the ANPR’s triple list shows a change in the party’s thinking. “The criteria will be personal, a lot of meditation, I’ll talk to a lot of people. […] I no longer think of a triple list of the PGR. I will be more judicious, ”she reinforced.

A People’s Gazette sought the PT to comment on the president’s speech, but the party preferred not to manifest itself. The leader of the government in Congress, Senator Randolfe Rodrigues (Rede-AP); the leader of the opposition in the Senate, senator Rogério Marinho (PL-RN), and the deputy leader Eduardo Girão (Novo-CE), were also contacted, but did not comment until the end of the report.