The government’s decision to support a Parliamentary Commission of Inquiry (CPI) against Petrobras did not convince the truck drivers class, which continues to see in President Jair Bolsonaro’s gestures only new ways of pushing the matter forward, due to the electoral calendar.
In a letter issued this Tuesday, 21, the president of the Brazilian Association of Motor Vehicle Drivers (Abrava), Wallace Landim, known as Chorão, again criticized the government’s actions.
“The Bolsonaro government’s great failure and incompetence was not having restructured Petrobras and its operations at the beginning of the government, not having initiated structuring changes in the company, and the main thing of not having kept its words with the truck drivers”, says Landim. . “Bolsonaro lied and now he wants to put the category and the Brazilian people against Petrobras.”
In parallel with the attempt to install a CPI against the company, the Bolsonaro government is preparing a provisional measure (MP) to change the rules of the State-owned Companies Law, which was created in 2016 to establish a series of commitments and responsibilities in the performance of public companies. The central target of the proposal is Petrobras and the way in which the company sets fuel prices.
Former Bolsonaro ally, deputy Nereu Crispim (PSD-RS) says that the government’s intention, with the proposal of Petrobras’ CPI, is just to “make a smokescreen” on the subject, because, in his analysis, there would be no real motivation to change the company’s marketing rules.
Crispim, who is the coordinator of the truck driver’s mixed parliamentary front, presented, in September 2021, a request for the creation of a CPI at Petrobras, but was unable to move forward. In March of this year, a new request for the constitution of the CPI was filed by the deputy, to investigate the chain of formation of fuel prices in Brazil, not just Petrobras. The proposal was also unsuccessful.
“Please, President, do not doubt our intelligence, we are on the side of the truth, not the lie,” Abrava said in its note.
The association also criticizes the attempt by truck driver Zé Trovão, who is a Bolsonaro supporter, to try to attract transport workers. Zé Trovão had his arrest decreed by the Minister of the Federal Supreme Court, Alexandre de Moraes, before the demonstrations on September 7 of last year. he was accused of encouraging undemocratic acts and even went on the run in Mexico. Zé Trovão’s arrest was revoked and today he wears an electronic anklet.
truck driver voucher
Regarding the possibility of a voucher for truck drivers, mentioned yesterday by the president of the Chamber, Arthur Lira (PP-AL), Wallace Landim said that the measure does not meet the demand of the category.
“Lira is trying to transfer responsibility. He knows he doesn’t have the space to approve vouchers, which would still be palliative. It’s an electoral measure and, like the ICMS ceiling for fuel, it’s a ‘tabajara’ measure to try to solve a problem complex,” Chorão told Estadão/Broadcast Agro, Grupo Estado’s real-time news system.
In the second, Lira said that there is the possibility of including a ‘voucher’ for truck drivers in the Proposed Amendment to the Constitution (PEC) for truck drivers, suggesting that the government grant this benefit through a provisional measure (MP). “Lira is trying to transfer responsibility now that it has fallen into Bolsonaro’s favor. There is a background behind this to use an amendment for reelection”, criticized Chorão.
Abrava’s president also stated that there is no “space” in the government to implement an eventual voucher. “Yesterday I filled up at the gas station at R$ 8.70 per liter and the government was talking about a voucher for R$ 400 of diesel. shareholder and withdraw the International Price Parity Policy (PPI) from Petrobras”, said Chorão.
The PPI, adopted by Petrobras, links the domestic price of fuels to the international price of a barrel of oil and to the dollar.
On the 17% ceiling for ICMS on fuels, Chorão stated that the new 14% readjustment for diesel has already surpassed the reduction that would be achieved by the state tax ceiling. “There is still a 9% lag in the diesel price practiced by Petrobras. So, only the removal of the PPI is that the fuel issue is resolved. The end of the PPI, together with the ICMS ceiling, would be a complete action to resolve the problem,” he said.
