BRASILIA, Dec 18 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) — The governor of the state of Bahia (northeast) and future chief minister of the Civil House, Rui Costa, affirmed today that the new government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Brazil will have 37 ministries.
Currently, the Executive of the defeated ultra-right-leaning president Jair Bolsonaro appears divided into 23 portfolios.
The G1 portal indicates that the announcement surfaced after Costa finished meeting with President-elect Lula, the helmsman of the Workers’ Party (PT), Gleisi Hoffmann, and the future head of the National Bank for Economic and Social Development of Brazil, Aloizio Merchant.
According to the governor, there will be dismemberment of portfolios, but without the creation of positions.
“That is, the cost and the volume of expenses are maintained regardless the number of ministries. So we are finalizing the structure with 37 ministries,” he reiterated.
He announced that ministries such as Fisheries, Cities, Sports and new ones such as Original Peoples will be reactivated, promised by Lula during the electoral campaign.
He specified that the current Infrastructure will be divided into two: Transport (in charge of highways and railways) and Ports and Airports.
He pointed out that the Ministry of Economy will be separated into: Farm, Planning Management and Development, Industry and Commerce.
G1 ensures that the design of Lula’s Ministries Esplanade will be defined by means of a provisional measure that will be published at the beginning of 2023.
Costa also recounted that they used, as a skeleton of the new government, the esplanade division of Lula’s second term, which closed with 37 ministries.
The brand emerged in the second term of former president Dilma Rousseff (2011-2016), who had 39 ministries.
So far, only six ministers of the future government have been announced: Fernando Haddad (Treasury); Flavio Dino (Justice); Rui Costa (Civil House); Margareth Menezes (Culture); José Múcio Monteiro (Defense) and Mauro Vieira (Foreign Relations).
According to G1 columnist Gerson Camarotti, the former governor of the state of Ceará (northeast) Camilo Santana was invited to assume the Ministry of Education, but the announcement has not yet been made official.
The discussion on the design of the Esplanade of the Ministries occurs at a time when Lula and the PT are trying to broaden support in Congress for the approval of the so-called Constitutional Amendment Proposal (PEC) of the Transition.
Among other points, the PEC raises the spending ceiling to ensure the payment of Auxilio Brasil (social aid program that will be renamed Bolsa Família) of 600 reais (about 112 dollars a month).
Lula defeated Bolsonaro, who coveted re-election, in the second round of suffrage on Oct 30. The ex-military has not yet ratified whether he will hand over the presidential sash on Jan 1. — NNN-PRENSA LATINA
