Lula chooses Márcio Elias Rosa for the MDIC after Márcio França leaves the government

With the decision of Márcio França (PSB) to leave the Lula government, the new Minister of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services (MDIC) was appointed on the afternoon of this Friday the 3rd. França was tipped to take on this portfolio in place of Geraldo Alckmin (PSB), who held the ministry with the Vice-Presidency.

As he decided not to remain minister of any portfolio, Márcio Elias Rosa was appointed to the MDIC, who has been executive secretary since 2023. With knowledge of the public sector, Márcio Elias also worked with Alckmin in the government of São Paulo, having been State Secretary of Justice between 2016 and 2018. Lula made it clear that the idea was to prioritize the “number 2” portfolios in this ministerial reform that takes place close to the elections.

The then executive secretary of the Ministry of Entrepreneurship, Microenterprise and Small Business, Francisco Tadeu Barbosa de Alencar, was appointed to head the department in the same extra edition of the Official Gazette of the Union (DOU) published this Friday afternoon.

On Thursday, 2, França was dismissed from the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and announced that he will focus on this year’s election in São Paulo. He seeks to join the Senate or even become vice-president on Fernando Haddad’s (SP) ticket for state government. In the text, França reported that the decision was taken in a meeting with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), during the afternoon of the same Thursday.

Former governor of São Paulo, France took office at the Ministry of Entrepreneurship in September 2023, as a member of the PSB. Previously, he headed the Ministry of Ports and Airports, but was replaced by a name from the Republicans, Silvio Costa Filho, to expand Centrão’s space in the government. The Entrepreneurship portfolio was created especially to accommodate France in the government, as he would be without a position – the law that created the ministry was sanctioned in 2024, after approval of the provisional measure (MP) that established it.

As shown by BroadcastGrupo Estado’s real-time news system, 16 state ministers who were considering candidacy in the October elections were dismissed this week. According to electoral legislation, anyone who holds a public position and plans to put their name on the ballot must leave the position six months before the election, a deadline that expires this Saturday, April 4th.

France still has no place in the elections

France’s priority option is a candidacy for state government, supporting Haddad in a possible second round. He also expresses his desire to run for the Senate, even though the PSB already has former Planning Minister Simone Tebet as a pre-candidate, with the president’s blessing. Tebet joined last week, after almost two decades in the MDB.

But France’s plans clash with Lula’s. Wanting to have a strong platform in São Paulo and gain allies in the Senate for a possible fourth term, the president wants Haddad to be a candidate for government and for the Minister of the Environment, Marina Silva, to occupy the second spot on the government ticket that will fight for the Senate. Marina, in fact, is leaving the Network and is still negotiating her affiliation with the PT, a party of which she was once a member.

On the other hand, France does not need to run for the Chamber of Deputies. The minister’s allies claim that he is a strong leader in the State, with transit in the interior and between the Center and with the possibility of infiltrating the electorate of the governor of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicans).