Lula classifies the privatization of Eletrobras as a “scorn”

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) criticized again this Thursday (18) the privatization of Eletrobras carried out under the government of former president Jair Bolsonaro, and classified the sale of the state-owned company as a “scorn”. The statement was made during an event in Salvador, to formalize the implementation of the Bahia Aerospace Technology Park.

“The privatization of Eletrobras, people don’t like to talk about, but it was a mockery in this country that was carried out in a strategic sector like the energy sector”, said Lula, stating that “there are many people in this country who insist on going backwards” .

On the occasion, Lula also highlighted a meeting he had with the Minister of Finance, Fernando Haddad, to discuss the “economic future of this country, the perspective of what is happening in the world”.

Eletrobras ceased to be controlled by the Union in June 2022, under the government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL). Critical of the initiative, Lula won the election four months later, promising to review the privatization process and defending a resumption of the leading role that state-owned companies had under the PT governments.

Last year, to try to reverse the privatization of Eletrobras, the Lula government filed a lawsuit with the Federal Supreme Court (STF) to increase its voting power in company decisions. At the end of last year, STF minister Kassio Nunes Marques referred the process to the Federal Administration Conciliation and Arbitration Chamber (CCAF).

The Lula government even tried, but was unable to interfere politically in the management of the now privatized Eletrobras. At an extraordinary general meeting held last Thursday, January 11, 95% of the former state-owned company’s shareholders voted for the incorporation of Furnas, one of the company’s subsidiaries.