Jean Paul Prates officially leaves the PT for space and will go to the progressive party

The former senator of the Republic and former president of Petrobras, Jean Paul Prates, made official this Monday morning, the 24th, his disaffiliation from the Workers’ Party (PT), an acronym to which he has been affiliated since 2013. The decision was registered in a letter delivered to the national president of the party, Edinho Silva, in Brasília.

“I am grateful for the greatest honors in my public life, representing Rio Grande do Norte in the Federal Senate and presiding over Petrobras, both entrusted by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the governor (of Rio Grande do Norte) Fátima Bezerra”, he stated in a statement, where he admitted that PT’s departure is motivated by a progressive reduction of political space. “I don’t take any grievances, I take gratitude and a clear conscience,” said the former senator.

Elevated to the presidency of Petrobras at the beginning of the Lula government in 2023, Prates was fired by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2024, after conflicts with the Minister of Mines and Energy, Alexandre Silveira.

In the letter, he informed that he will continue in the progressive camp, joining “a party with an equivalent tradition of fighting for social justice, dignity and national sovereignty”, but did not reveal the new party.

Among his thanks, Prates cited leaders and personal friends who marked his time in the party, such as Fernando Haddad, Aloizio Mercadante, Henrique Fontana, José Dirceu and the PT president himself, Edinho Silva.

In the letter, he recalled his role as leader of the opposition in the Senate during the Bolsonaro government, a period in which he defended state-owned companies, public assets and the milestones of the energy transition.

The now former PT member also recalled part of his legislative production, marked by projects considered structuring, such as the Railways Legal Framework, the fuel price stabilization project and pioneering laws on offshore wind energy, hydrogen, circular plastic economy, carbon capture and storage, urban mobility and biogas.