The graduated president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) confirmed this Thursday (29) the senator Simone Tebet (MDB-MS) in charge of the Ministry of Planning and Budget and the outgoing senator Alexandre Silveira (PSD-MG) as future Minister of Mines and Energy.
With the announcement of new names for the first echelon of the future government, Lula concluded the design of the team that will lead the economic area in his third term.
In the future administration, Planning was subdivided into two folders and Esther Dweck will be in the Ministry of Management. The Economy was also sliced into Finance, with Fernando Haddad (PT), and Mdic (Ministry of Development, Industry and Commerce), headed by the graduated vice-president Geraldo Alckmin.
Tebet accepted the position in Planning after being passed over in other portfolios. The senator initially wanted the Ministry of Education, which ended up with elected senator Camilo Santana (PT-CE).
Then he indicated that he would like to stay with Social Development, the department that controls Bolsa Família — today called Auxílio Brasil, the income transfer program will be renamed. But Lula announced for the post the also elected senator Wellington Dias (PT-PI). The graduated president would then have offered the Ministry of the Environment, which Tebet turned down in favor of the elected deputy and reference in the area Marina Silva (Rede-SP).
The senator was also not the first option of the future government for Planning. The plan A of Fernando Haddad, future Minister of Finance, for the portfolio was the name of economist André Lara Resende, who rejected the post.
In Planning, Tebet will have among his secretaries the areas of strategic investments and coordination of state-owned companies. With this, he will be able to participate in the discussion on priority investments by the federal government together with the Civil House, which will coordinate and monitor the topic. The PPI (Investment Partnerships Program) must be managed jointly by Planning, Treasury and the Civil House.
The parliamentarian wanted to keep the public banks under her control, in order to be able to implement some management showcases and not just manage resources for the rest of the government, but the idea was rejected by PT members.
The former Ministry of Planning, Budget and Management had been incorporated into the Ministry of Economy in the reform promoted by Paulo Guedes (current Minister of Economy) at the beginning of the Bolsonarist administration in 2019, helping to create the super folder that brought together powers and budgets.
Ranked third in the presidential elections, the emedebist supported Lula in the second round and actively participated in the election campaign. Her support was considered essential for the PT’s victory.
Tebet, 52, is a lawyer and teacher. She has already been a state deputy in Mato Grosso do Sul, mayor of Três Lagoas (MS) twice and vice-governor. After Lula’s victory, she was announced to be part of the social development area of the transition group.
Silveira, on the other hand, is secretary general of the PSD and committed himself in the presidential elections to block the turn of Jair Bolsonaro (PL) over Lula in Minas Gerais, where the difference was only 49.6 thousand votes. In addition, he is a close ally of the president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), whose reappointment should be supported by the Lula government.
The parliamentarian was rapporteur in the Senate of the PEC (proposed amendment to the Constitution) of Spending, which increases the spending ceiling by R$ 145 billion next year and authorizes R$ 23 billion in investments outside the fiscal rule.
Also this Thursday, the name of the national president of the PDT, Carlos Lupi, was confirmed by Lula at the Ministry of Social Security. Shortly before the announcement, after a meeting at the hotel where the president-elect is staying in Brasilia, the pedetista said that he accepted the invitation to compose the first echelon of the future government.
The post was initially not attractive to the party, which was looking for a portfolio with more visibility. Lupi had been talking to the PT to try to negotiate a portfolio that could strengthen the acronym for the 2024 and 2026 elections.
Lupi was Minister of Labor and Employment in the first Lula government and also remained in office in the government of Dilma Rousseff (PT), leaving the portfolio in December 2011.
Another nominee by Lula was Senator Carlos Fávaro (PSD-MT) for the Ministry of Agriculture —he was one of the articulators of the PT campaign with agribusiness.
To journalists at the end of the event, the future Minister of Agriculture, Carlos Fávaro, stressed the importance of recovering the credibility of sustainable agribusiness.
“We can recover the credibility of sustainable agro, agro that does not illegally deforest, does not harm the environment and seeks partnerships. After that, [poderemos] produce much more, [tendo] a president who is the greatest of all ambassadors traveling the world and opening up markets.”
He also said that he received from Lula the task of fulfilling two fundamental roles: having an abundance of food to satisfy the hunger of Brazilians and sustainable production to sell to the world and improve the Brazilian economy.
“It is necessary to resume relations with the European Union, resume good relations with China, the United States and South America. We are turning our backs on Venezuela, which is a great opportunity, including the exchange of products for fertilizers , as they are major phosphate producers and we have seen rich shortages [do produto]with the Ukrainian War.”
As holder of the Ministry of Fisheries, the chosen one was federal deputy André de Paula (PSD-PE) —who enters the quota of the acronym of the Chamber of Deputies.
Senator Renan Filho (MDB-AL) was also chosen for the Ministry of Transport, and Jader Barbalho Filho (MDB-PA), for the Ministry of Cities —both appointed by emedebista leaders.
“With the PEC that was recently approved, the country regains its ability to invest and we are going to resume investments. The diagnosis of the transition team shows the railroad area is practically blocked and the road area with 66% of Brazilian federal roads considered bad or very bad “, Renan Filho told journalists.
The current governor of Amapá, Waldez Góes (PDT), was nominated for the Ministry of National Integration and Regional Development.
The disclosure of the Lula government’s strategic names was made at the CCBB (Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil), the location chosen as the headquarters of the transition, in Brasília.
In the previous wave of announcements, on December 22nd, Lula appointed to the economic team of his government the diplomated vice-president, Geraldo Alckmin (PSB) to command the Mdic (Ministry of Development, Industry and Commerce). Among women, Esther Dweck will lead a portfolio created specifically for management.
The former governor of São Paulo Márcio França (PSB) was chosen for the Ministry of Ports and Airports – part of the current Ministry of Infrastructure. The person nominated by Lula to lead the Ministry of Labor, in turn, was elected federal deputy Luiz Marinho (PT-SP).
Future Minister of Finance, Haddad had been announced when the graduated president started defining the names of his first echelon, on December 9th.
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