Pacheco criticizes government for interference in Vale and Petrobras

The president of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco (PSD-MG), declared this Tuesday (11) that the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) needs to “understand its limits” when acting in companies in which it has a stake as a shareholder , such as Vale and Petrobras.

“If the Union is an interested party as a shareholder, in theory it is legitimate for the government to take a position, but it must understand its limits of action considering the governance of companies and their independence. I am not saying that the government has exceeded them because I do not know the situation. I say just that they need to be observed,” Pacheco told the newspaper The globe.

When asked about Congress’s reaction to government interference, Pacheco said there was no need for parliamentary action. “It’s more a question of ethical limits than of legislative deficiency. I don’t know the concrete situations and it’s not up to me to give an opinion. This concerns companies and their shareholders and advisors,” he said.

Government pressure on Vale and Petrobras has been occurring for months, since the PT government’s attempt to control the control of state-owned companies.

This Monday (11), the president of Petrobras, Jean Paul Prates, will meet with President Lula to discuss the cut of R$14.2 billion in extraordinary dividends from the state-owned company, which led the company to lose R$55, 3 billion in market value after frustrating shareholder expectations. Since the early hours of the day, the state-owned company’s shares have been fluctuating as the financial market awaits what will be discussed.

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Privatized almost three decades ago, Vale is a publicly traded company on B3, the Brazilian stock exchange. The government has indirect participation, through Previ, which is the pension fund for Banco do Brasil employees.

Last week, in an interview with RedeTV, Lula said that the mining company “does not own Brazil”. “Vale cannot think that it owns Brazil, it cannot think that it can do more than Brazil. So what we want is the following: Brazilian companies need to be in accordance with the Brazilian government’s development thinking. That’s what we want,” she said.

Last Friday (8), after pressure from the government, Vale’s board decided that the current president, Eduardo Bartolomeo, will not be reappointed to the position, but will remain until December 31st of this year.