Eletrobras: government will have to explain in the Senate how Itaipu will be privatized

. The debate was approved this Tuesday (10/5) in the Senate Infrastructure Committee, which will also hold an event to discuss Itaipu and the natural gas price policy.

According to the requirements for the event, presented by Senator Jean Paul Prates (PR-RN), the conditions for the segregation of Eletrobras Termonuclear S.A. (Eletronuclear) in the process of privatization of the company Centrais Elétricas Brasileiras S.A. (Eletrobras), as well as the creation of the Empresa Brasileira de Participações em Energia Nuclear e Binacional S.A. (ENBPar).

For the senator, the privatization process of Eletrobras conducted by the Bolsonaro government lacks the valuable principle of transparency. "If the poorly explained calculation of the value added to the contracts with the new Eletrobras hydroelectric plant concessions was not enough, now we are discussing, who knows based on what parameters, the valuation of the assets segregated in ENBPar," he said.

The congressman wants to understand the origin and application of resources. "The Ministry of Economy informed that ENBPar will have a budget of R$ 4 billion for the state-owned company to acquire control of Eletronuclear and Eletrobras' share in the capital of Itaipu," he criticized. "There is no room for improvised solutions and opaque arrangements."

Debate

Invited to the public hearing will be representatives of the Secretariat for Infrastructure Supervision of Electrical Energy (SeinfraEle) of the Federal Audit Court (TCU); the Secretariat of Electrical Energy of the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME); the Union in the Brazilian Company of Participations in Nuclear and Binational Energy S.A. (ENBPar); and the Special Secretariat for Privatization, Disinvestment, and Markets of the Ministry of Economy (ME).

Also present at the debate will be Nivalde de Castro, general coordinator of the Electricity Sector Study Group (Gesel) of the Institute of Economics of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (IE/UFRJ); Rodrigo Limp Nascimento, president of Centrais Elétricas Brasileiras S.A. (Eletrobras); Ikaro Chaves, representative of the National Collective of Electric Workers (CNE); Paulo Arthur, representative of the Association of Engineers and Technicians of the Eletrobras System (Aesel); and Clarice Ferraz, researcher for the Ilumina Institute.

Itaipu

The senators also approved another request for a public hearing to discuss the conditions and parameters Brazil has established for negotiating the revision of the Itaipu Treaty, and for the segregation of Eletrobras assets for the creation of the Brazilian Company of Participation in Nuclear and Binational Energy S.A. (ENBPar).

Marisete Fátima Dadald Pereira, executive secretary of the Ministry of Mines and Energy; Marcelo Pacheco Guaranys, executive secretary of the Ministry of Economy; Otávio Brandelli, secretary-general of the Ministry of Foreign Relations; Ricardo Canese, deputy of Parlasur for Paraguay; Mercedez Canese, former energy minister of Paraguay; and Jorge Samek, former president of Itaipu, will be invited for this hearing.

Petrobras

It was also approved the holding of a public hearing, on a date yet to be defined, to debate the policy of supply and prices of natural gas sold by Petrobras, as well as the disposal of assets (sale of refineries) and the distribution of dividends of the Brazilian state-owned company.