The president of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira, met with representatives of the body to ask for a more active role from the Government against high fuel prices and suggests the application of MPs against Petrobras for this to happen.
Last Monday (20/06), the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), gathered leaders of the ruling and opposition parties to discuss the high prices of fuel currently charged by Petrobras. In addition, the executive also asked for a more active role of the Federal Government and suggested the application of Provisional Measures, the so-called MPs, against the state-owned company in order to change the company's current pricing policy.
Petrobras' fuel price policy is criticized by the Chamber of Deputies, which suggests the application of MPs to contain the current scenario in Brazil
After yet another increase in fuel prices carried out by Petrobras over the last week, the President of the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira, is now discussing the need for a more rigid position by the Federal Government to maintain resource values.
This is because the Bolsonaro government has not taken the necessary measures to contain advances in price increases, which the state-owned company has constantly carried out over the last few months.
And, although the meeting with representatives of the opposition and grassroots parties was inconclusive in the Chamber of Deputies, the president of the body requested necessary measures from the Government. To this end, Arthur Lira defended the adoption of MPs to change the company's pricing policy, end the company's preference in pre-salt auctions and change the rules for the composition of boards of directors provided for in the State-owned Law.
All these measures could help prevent the state-owned company from continuing to increase fuel prices in Brazil, harming the final consumer.
Another idea put up for discussion with the representatives of the Chamber of Deputies was the increase in taxes on the oil and natural gas sector in Brazil, but the idea was set aside by the representatives.
Now, new meetings will be held to discuss the issue, according to Vinícius Carvalho (SP) who said: “Tomorrow [today] another meeting will take place with government technicians and a government leader to evaluate the most effective legislative measure”. Lira remains optimistic about the meetings and highlighted: “There is an almost unanimous feeling among all leaders that the Ministry of Economy and the federal government have to act more directly”.
In addition to MPs suggested by the Chamber of Deputies, the Federal Government is studying new measures to control the rise in fuel prices caused by the state-owned company
Although Arthur Lira's suggestion about using MPs to carry out internal control at Petrobras and prevent the taking of new decisions that lead to an increase in fuel prices, this does not seem to be a very efficient measure in the long term.
To this end, the Federal Government is studying, with the Chamber of Deputies, the taking of new decisions that can control this growing value of these resources in Brazil.
And, among the alternatives studied by the government, the main one currently is the dilution of participation of the Union into the state-owned company through the privatization of Petrobras. Thus, the Executive considers proposing the conversion of the preferred shares of the state-owned company into common shares and, in this way, the Union would no longer be the controlling shareholder of the company. In this way, the company would be completely controlled by the private sector, which, according to government representatives, could cause a stabilization in fuel prices.
Now, Arthur Lira and the Chamber of Deputies are waiting for new meetings with government representatives for possible conclusions regarding what will be done to overcome the critical situation that Brazil is currently facing regarding fuel prices.
