2023-06-06 23:44:24
By Marta Nogueira
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) -Eletrobras said on Tuesday that it had already proposed to shareholders the extension for up to 12 months of the operational transition period for the management of the Luz para Todos and Mais Luz para a Amazônia programs, after president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva demand that the company provide operational support for the continuity of public policies.
The proposal, highlighted the electric company in a note sent after being questioned about Lula’s statement, is included in the agenda of the Extraordinary General Meeting scheduled for June 29, and had already been disclosed to the market in the middle of last month.
“The proposal to extend the transition period is in line with the company’s social responsibilities and encourages respect for the human rights of the communities and population involved, in addition to aligning with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), prioritized by Eletrobras in its 2022 Annual Report,” the company said.
The company also said that the extension meets Eletrobras’ purpose of allocating its energy to the sustainable development of society, with practices of excellence, innovation and sustainability.
President Lula argued that it was essential that Eletrobras, even privatized, provide operational support for the continuity of public policies relevant to Brazil, in a document sent the day before by the Attorney General’s Office (AGU) to the Federal Supreme Court (STF).
Operational support would be necessary while the transition of programs to ENBPar, a public company linked to the Ministry of Mines and Energy, which will take over Eletrobras activities that are not subject to privatization, is not completed, said the AGU in a statement late on Monday. .
The document was presented within the scope of the Direct Action of Unconstitutionality (Adin) filed by the government, which seeks that the Union has a stake in the company’s command proportional to the percentage of shares it holds after privatization, of around 43%.
Among relevant programs, the government cited Luz para Todos and Mais Luz para a Amazônia, among others, considered by the Union as essential to provide access and use of electricity by the Brazilian population residing in rural areas and in the states of the Legal Amazon.
“The privatization of Eletrobras cannot mean that the company’s management is alienated from public policies that intend to ensure accessibility and regularity in the supply of energy to the Brazilian population, especially the most needy”, said the AGU.
In the statement, the AGU stated that the aforementioned programs have already served 3.6 million families, comprising 17.1 million people, and that at least 400,000 families still need to be reached – and the government’s goal for 2023 is to make the access to electricity for over 104,000 families.
The government has been seeking, together with the Supreme Court, to restore political rights at Eletrobras. Currently, of the nine members of the company’s board of directors, the Union can appoint only one, as defined in the operation that pulverized the company’s control during the previous government.
“The President of the Republic points out that it is up to the Union to care for the public assets invested in the company, contributing to its management in proportion to the percentage of shares held, avoiding operational risk for the energy sector or even equity loss in the face of the public capital invested – which has not been possible, since the entity’s participation in the company’s management has been made unfeasible”, reiterated the AGU statement.
(Edited by Alberto Alerigi Jr. and Pedro Fonseca)
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