This Monday (4), the Minister of the Social Communication Secretariat, Paulo Pimenta, stated that it was “a matter of hours.”
Centrão's entry into the government will displace the current Minister of Sports, Ana Moser, who was one of Lula's personal quota and was not affiliated with any party. As Coluna do Estadão showed, this ministry will be boosted with money from sports betting taxes. The Provisional Measure (PM) that provides for this charge still needs to go through the scrutiny of Congress and should be approved in the coming days.
The only reason the political equation is not fully closed is that Lula is still going to talk to Márcio França, who occupies Ports and Airports and does not want to leave the portfolio. França belongs to the PSB and is an ally of vice-president Geraldo Alckmin. He can either go to the Ministry of Science and Technology, currently occupied by Luciana Santos, or to the Ministry of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services, commanded by Alckmin himself.
Last week, Lula said in a live broadcast on social networks that he would create the 38th Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises. He made the proposal with the intention of accommodating a Centrão politician and not having to dislodge Ana Moser, a player who brought the first Olympic medal in women's volleyball to Brazil, in 1996.
Centrão, however, did not accept the offer, as it has its eye on sports betting money. The president considered, then, that França could assume this ministry, but he was not interested. As a result, the creation of the folder announced by Lula remained in limbo.
Future successor to Ana Moser, deputy André Fufuca is leader of the PP in the Chamber and close to the party's president, senator Ciro Nogueira), who was Minister of the Civil House in the government of Jair Bolsonaro.
Although he has already supported Lula and the PT in the not-too-distant past, Nogueira today staunchly opposes the president on social media. The PP, however, has already stamped its passport in the first echelon.
The new configuration planned for Sport should house part of the betting tax collection, which should be up to R$ 12 billion per year when the market is fully regulated. The strategy agreed upon with Centrão foresees that these resources enter directly into the state and municipal funds through the National Sports Fund.
Source: Estadão
