The Minister of Mines and Energy, Alexandre Silveira, said today (15th), in São Paulo, that the renationalization of Eletrobras is not on the federal government’s agenda. According to him, this idea was considered at first, but is no longer up for debate. What the government is looking for, he said, is to question the proportionality of the Union’s participation in the company’s management, since there could be “a distortion in a very nerve area for the country”. “Not on the agenda [a reestatização]. This was actually the first internal debate in government. But I understand that this debate was won when the government decided on the second path, which was to have an effective participation”, he said, referring to the action presented by the Advocacy General of the Union (AGU) in the Federal Supreme Court (STF). In the lawsuit, the AGU questions the constitutionality of devices in the company’s privatization law, which was approved by the National Congress at the end of the Jair Bolsonaro administration. According to the minister, at the beginning of his term, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva even asked that a possible renationalization of the company be studied, “but, after much debate, the conclusion was reached that, in a first moment, the most appropriate thing would be to re-establish the proportional political rights of the Union”. According to the minister, the government does not intend to regain majority control of the company. “Especially because there are instruments, in the privatization law itself, that prevent it from being so.” Silveira reiterated that the government owns 43% of the shares and only one director, out of a total of nine. According to him, the company’s current model makes it possible for the government to have only one candidate for the Board of Directors “in a slate registered to be able to have a maximum of one representative on the board and may even have none.” “What the government questions is a proportionality of participation”, he added. Also present at the Brasil Hoje Seminar, at the table that discussed energy and infrastructure, the Attorney General of the Republic, Augusto Aras, said that the government’s idea of reviewing the privatization of Eletrobras could cause legal uncertainty and generate uncertainty for investors. “Any type of uncertainty puts us in an extremely fragile situation, especially among investors. No one will invest in a company without proper legal certainty,” he said. For Adriano Pires, director of the Brazilian Center for Infrastructure (CBIE), this government move to seek to gain more power in the company’s management could end up “scaring the investor right at the beginning of the government”. “Lula was democratically elected and has every right to put his ideas into practice. But the whole problem is that you look back and challenge what has already been done by the National Congress”, said Pires. Invited to participate in the same panel, the president of Eletrobras, Wilson Ferreira Júnior, did not attend the event, promoted in São Paulo by Esfera Brasil. During the event, the minister also said that, for the government, there is recognition that the electricity, mineral and oil and gas sectors depend “almost wholly” on private investment. “I have received, in my office, the whole world. This morning I looked at the agenda and saw 59 requests from ambassadors from around the world to speak, in particular, on this topic. [de transição energética]. This is a 100 meter race and we cannot miss opportunities”, said the minister. “But before that, there are more immediate problems to be solved in order to take steps forward”, he added. Among these problems, he cited water scarcity and price asymmetry. Petrobras During the event, the minister reiterated that the federal government intends to change Petrobras’ current pricing policy. “In good conscience, no one will deny respect for Petrobras’ internal governance, its legal nature as a publicly traded company. But neither will we lack firmness and courage to assume a position that is not always very clear. When the shareholder goes to the stock exchange and buys Petrobras shares, he knows that the controlling power of Petrobras is the government. The government not only appoints the president of Petrobras, but makes up the majority of the Petrobras board.” For him, the company has moved away from its social function. “What happens is that Petrobras, respecting its governance, also has a constitutional role – and which is clear in the state law – which is its social function. It is a company that induces national growth,” he said. “Petrobras criminally worked against the country in recent years. The gas cylinder is sold by Petrobras 26% above the PPI price (Import Parity Price). It is a gas that is even paid by the government to reach the poor’s house. Petrobras has fat to be able to burn above the PPI in gasoline and diesel”, stated Silveira.
Agência Brasil
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