The president-elect, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), announced new names of the economic team, which will be composed by the vice-president-elect Geraldo Alckmin (PSB-SP) in the position of Minister of Development, Industry and Commerce.
Lula will split the current Ministry of Economy into four: Finance, Planning, Industry and Management.
Fernando Haddad (PT) was presented two weeks ago as the new finance minister.
In the new round of announcements on Esplanada de Lula, this Thursday (22nd), the president-elect confirmed the names of Alckmin (Industry) and Esther Dweck (Management). The Planning folder, however, remains undefined.
As anticipated by Sheet, Alckmin’s name gained strength in view of the refusal of businessmen to take the Industry post. He will then accumulate the role of vice president and minister.
Alckmin was chosen for the position after Josué Gomes da Silva, from Coteminas, and Pedro Wongtschowski, from the Ultra group, declined the invitation.
The president-elect had an idea around a businessman at the head of the portfolio. This was one of his promises made during the campaign to carry out a reindustrialization project in the country.
But Lula’s advisers claim that legal barriers prevented big businessmen from accepting the position: they cannot be shareholders of a company that operates in the same area as the ministry.
For this reason, the president looked for a name that would move well among the business community and, at the same time, build bridges with Congress for the definition of new policies for the sector. Alckmin, who had the support of the industrial sector when he ran for president in 2018, emerged as a solution for the position.
For the Management portfolio, economist Esther Dweck was chosen. During the Dilma Rousseff government, between 2011 and 2016, she served at the Ministry of Planning as Federal Budget Secretary.
Dweck was part of Lula’s transition group responsible for the Planning area.
At the Ministry of Planning, Lula’s decision orbited between political names, such as elected senator Wellington Dias (PT-PI), and economists.
In the most recent conversations, the president has been sounding out economist André Lara Resende. He worked on the creation of the Real Plan and, during the current transition, they are part of the economics technical group.
The announcement of the new Minister of Planning, however, was left for the next round.
This Thursday, Lula also announced that former governor of São Paulo, Márcio França (PSB), will take over the Ministry of Ports – a slice of the current Ministry of Infrastructure.
França initially targeted the Ministry of Cities, but his name lost strength for the post in recent days. The Cities folder is disputed by other parties that Lula tries to attract to the base of the government.
At the end of November, at a dinner with Alckmin, the PSB had made official the name of the former governor of São Paulo as the party’s nominee for the Ministry of Cities
França was a candidate for the Senate in São Paulo, with the support of the PT alliance, but ended up defeated by Marcos Pontes (PL).
Before, he was also quoted to run for the government of São Paulo, but the vacancy went to Haddad (PT), who also lost at the polls.
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