Tarcísio considers extinguishing the secretary of the Antonov case – 07/22/2023 – Power

The Tarcísio de Freitas government (Republicans) is considering extinguishing the Secretariat for International Business, whose head Lucas Ferraz was the target of a controversy involving the Ukrainian state-owned company Antonov in April. The case generated discomfort between the Palácio dos Bandeirantes and the Lula government (PT).

Assistants to the governor say behind the scenes that an evaluation will be presented to Tarcísio so that he can decide whether to extinguish, incorporate or maintain the portfolio. The government is rethinking the state’s organization chart after identifying overlapping functions, such as attracting foreign investment.

Part of the secretaries dismisses there being a relationship between the possible extinction of the secretariat and the Antonov case, which they see as overcome. Some, however, claim that the episode damaged the relationship between Tarcísio and the holder.

Ferraz’s allies, on the other hand, defend the existence of the secretariat and say they were not informed of any intention to change. The folder maintains its own agenda, in addition to a series of ongoing projects with forthcoming openings.

The imbroglio began when the secretariat stated in a note that the aircraft manufacturer had expressed an interest in investing US$ 50 billion in the state, but had withdrew after statements by Lula regarding the war with Russia.

The topic even became the subject of a phone call in April between the president and Tarcísio, in which the petista said he was upset.

At the time, the secretary ended up being spared a resignation – which according to members of the government could seem like a concession to the federal government. Tarcísio even sounded out former president of the Banco dos Brics Marcos Toyjo for the post, but there was no agreement.

On May 19, a few days after the case, the then executive secretary of the portfolio, Affonso Massot, was exonerated. A press officer who worked at the agency was relocated.

However, there is still dissatisfaction with Ferraz on the part of some secretaries and the governor himself. After the episode, the secretary ended up being left out of some of Tarcísio’s meetings with foreign businessmen and government officials, such as the visit of the President of Finland last month.

Government members see redundancy in the tasks of Ferraz and other institutions with similar activities, such as the Secretariat for Partnerships in Investments, by Rafael Benini, and InvestSP, by Rui Gomes. The opinion is that the secretariat has lost its reason to exist in a decentralized management model.

Still behind the scenes, the reading is that InvestSP plays a better role in attracting investments and closing deals, while Ferraz’s portfolio would make more of a diplomatic representation with other countries.

Defenders of the secretary claim that the functions are different, as in the case of the Apex and the Ministry of Development, Industry, Commerce and Services. Only the secretariat, they say, formulates public policies to encourage foreign trade.

A chemical engineer with a postgraduate degree from USP and a doctorate in economics from FGV, Ferraz was Foreign Trade Secretary in the ministry led by Paulo Guedes in the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government.

Another point raised by the governor’s assistants is the resistance of the Brazilian industrial sector to Ferraz, since he, in the Ministry of Economy, had a totally liberal posture and one of incentive to the free market, which harms the national production in the view of some businessmen.

According to Tarcísio’s assistants, the government’s perception of the secretariat’s work was not good even before the Antonov case, and the extinction or incorporation of the portfolio was something that had been considered for some time.

An example of the dissatisfaction with Ferraz, still according to Tarcísio’s interlocutors, was the holding of roadshows abroad, when the government presents its programs to investors and international financial groups.

In March, Ferraz was responsible for preparing the governor’s tour of Europe and accompanying him on the trip. In May, at the roadshow in New York, Tarcísio assigned Rui Gomes to the mission, as he was not happy with Ferraz’s work. The governor considered agendas in Europe too institutional.

Interlocutors of Tarcísio say that the confusion with Antonov left the governor disappointed. Although he did not immediately fire the secretary in an attempt to quell the crisis, he did not hide his disapproval.

In an interview with GloboNews, on May 2, Tarcísio openly criticized the assistant.

“I don’t know how these things are born, honestly. […] If a lawyer claiming to represent a company sends me an email saying he wants to invest $50 billion, that email from him goes straight into the trash. Who is going to come here: ‘Oh, I’m going to invest US$ 50 billion’? […] It has neither feet nor head,” he said.

“Another thing: am I going to bring a company here to compete with Embraer? […] gains a dimension, an importance and goes to the press. It makes no sense. […] I found out when the confusion was formed,” he added.

When questioned about Ferraz’s resignation, he replied that “this is a matter for us” and admitted evaluating the secretariat.

“We created a Secretariat for International Business to be more aggressive from the point of view of attracting investment. It is necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of this mechanism. But it is an internal question of the government, which we are not going to decide now”, he said.

For Ferraz’s allies, it doesn’t make sense that an evaluation of Tarcísio lasts for months. They see the alleged plan to extinguish the secretariat as intriguing.

Some of Ferraz’s colleagues in the government say he’s competent, but he doesn’t have the profile that Tarcísio wants. Furthermore, he was involved in a string of mistakes and created a problem that the palace did not need. The political dimension of the episode was what complicated his situation.

The case broke out after a report by CNN Brasil stated that Antonov stopped investing US$ 50 billion in Brazil due to Lula’s statements that relativize Russia’s responsibility in the war and that are seen as sympathetic to Moscow.

The broadcaster published a note from the Secretariat for International Business in which the folder claims to have received representatives from Antonov to address the issue.

The Ukrainian state-owned company, however, contested the information and declared that it does not have representatives in Brazil, which led Lula’s ministers to accuse the São Paulo government of spreading false information to harm federal management.

Afterwards, an Antonov director confirmed to CNN the existence of a preliminary negotiation with the Government of São Paulo. Ferraz’s interlocutors claim that he would never create fake news and has a technical profile.

They also say that the value of US$ 50 billion was not mentioned in the meeting with representatives of Antonov and that the government did not show interest in the business and would only continue the conversations if high-ranking members of the company got involved.