The Senate summit has blocked the nomination of the name chosen by President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) to head the Brazilian embassy in the United Arab Emirates.
On April 20, Bolsonaro forwarded to the Senate the appointment of Marcos Degaut – currently Secretary of Defense Products – to head the Brazilian mission in the Arab country.
But the president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), has not yet read the message sent by the Planalto, the first step for the nomination to be processed.
In the secretariat at the Ministry of Defense, Degaut is responsible for prospecting markets and suppliers for war products, including weapons, aircraft and radar systems — in addition to dealing with investments and research in the sector. During the Bolsonaro government, the export of weapons abroad has grown.
The message to the Senate with the appointment of Degaut was published in the Official Gazette of the Union on the same day that the Chief Executive appointed a career diplomat to be the ambassador of Brazil to the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries, based in Lisbon.
Unlike Degaut, the diplomat had a quick procedure. He has already been questioned and his name has been approved by the House’s Foreign Relations Committee, with only confirmation in the plenary being required.
Normally, the period between the receipt of the nomination by the Planalto and the beginning of the process of the chosen one in the Senate is of a few days.
Different people who follow the theme heard by the Sheet pointed out that the request for the nomination to be put on the back burner would have come from Senator Davi Alcolumbre (União Brasil-AP), president of the CCJ (Constitution and Justice Commission).
The senator from Amapá was responsible for holding Minister André Mendonça’s hearing to the STF (Federal Supreme Court) for almost four months.
Wanted, Pacheco denied working against Bolsonaro’s political appointment.
“There is no exceptionality in this nomination. Some ambassadorial nominations have already been appreciated and others have not. Those that have not yet been should be in the next concentrated effort”, informed the presidency of the Legislative House.
Pacheco’s interlocutors also claimed that one of the reasons for the delay is that, on the agenda of the Foreign Relations Commission, there are still dammed indications that need to be analyzed by the collegiate.
Senator Davi Alcolumbre’s office said he could not comment on the matter, as he is still recovering from surgery.
Degaut is not a career diplomat and has commanded the secretary of Defense products since the beginning of the Bolsonaro government. During this period, it was headed by ministers Fernando Azevedo, Walter Braga Netto and, more recently, Paulo Sérgio Nogueira.
Braga Netto is the main candidate to be Bolsonaro’s deputy.
In the Michel Temer government, Degaut held the post of Special Secretary for Strategic Affairs.
The search for investments in the defense area was on the agenda of the two trips that Bolsonaro made to the United Arab Emirates and to other destinations, such as Russia.
Degaut accompanied the presidential entourage on these agendas.
The impasse in the Senate has generated strong wear and tear for the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carlos França.
The website DefesaNet, very popular among military circles, published an article that accuses France of acting behind the scenes to sabotage the appointment of the Defense official.
Itamaraty denies having interfered in the case.
“Minister Carlos França and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, of course, support the appointment of Mr. Degaut to the post. The ministry requested the agrément [aval do país anfitrião]according to diplomatic practice and, once granted, prepared the documentation and the corresponding explanatory memorandum, in addition to other forms of support for the nomination,” the ministry said in a statement.
“The ministry remains engaged in efforts to ensure that the process of his name in the Federal Senate proceeds as quickly as possible”.
The issue is sensitive for France, which recently had friction with Minister Paulo Guedes (Economy).
Despite the statement by the Itamaraty command, there is a movement of diplomats against the nomination. Interlocutors heard by Folha said that ambassadors made requests in the Senate for Degaut’s name not to be advanced, as he was not a career.
The appointment of non-career mission chiefs has always generated resistance among diplomats, who prefer to see embassies commanded by colleagues from the Itamaraty.
Bolsonaro has been to Abu Dhabi on two occasions, in 2019 and last year.
During the visits, defense cooperation agreements were signed and businessmen in the sector accompanied the official delegation.
The country is one of Brazil’s main trading partners in the Middle East.
Son of the President of the Republic, deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro (PL-SP) has close relations with the Emirates. He accompanied his father on his last trip to the country, for example, to promote internationalization agreements with the Instituto Conservador-Liberal, of which he is the creator.
The appointment of ambassadors from outside the diplomatic career is rare, but not unheard of.
Since coming to power, Bolsonaro has chosen on three other occasions considered political appointments to command embassies abroad.
The former minister of the TCU (Union Court of Auditors) Raimundo Carreiro took over the Brazilian embassy in Lisbon.
In the case of Carreiro, whose trip to Portugal was part of a broad articulation with parliamentarians to free up a seat on the court of accounts, the reading of his nomination in the Plenary of the Senate took place on the same day of publication in the Official Gazette of the Union.
Another non-diplomat appointed is the current Brazilian ambassador to Israel, General Gerson Menandro Garcia de Freitas.
The president also tried to sign former Rio de Janeiro mayor Marcelo Crivella (Republicans) to command the country’s diplomatic mission in South Africa.
The appointment of Universal’s licensed bishop was a nod to Bolsonaro’s religious base, but the South African government refused to grant the agrément. The nomination was eventually withdrawn by Itamaraty.
