The government has an enemy of the workers in the Mines and Energy sector.

More than 60 million Brazilians voted for Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva for president, driven by different reasons: Lula's track record of success leading the federal government, their revulsion at the devastation caused by Jair Bolsonaro, but above all, by the proposals he championed during the election period. 

One of the most emphatic promises was Lula's pledge to end Petrobras' fuel pricing policy. One of the reasons for the overthrow of President Dilma Rousseff in the 2016 coup, the Import Parity Price (PPI) policy calculates the production costs of fuels in Brazil in dollars, which is a crime against the nation, a legalized transfer of Brazilian money to foreign shareholders. In addition to following the fluctuations in oil prices on the international market, Petrobras passes on to the consumer costs for freight and import taxes that are nonexistent.

In a speech in June 2022, Lula criticized then-President Jair Bolsonaro, saying that the decision to dollarize the price of gasoline was made "with the stroke of a pen," and could also be undone with a "stroke of a pen." Elected president leading a very broad coalition, Lula had to divide the government among allied parties. For the Ministry of Mines and Energy, to which Petrobras is subordinate, he appointed Senator Alexandre Silveira, from the PSD party, led by former São Paulo mayor Gilberto Kassab. 

This week, it became clear that changing Petrobras' pricing policy is proving more difficult than imagined in June 2022. At the head of the Ministry of Mines and Energy, Minister Silveira forged an alliance with the financial market to defend the interests of rentiers and maintain dollar-denominated gasoline prices. In what was interpreted as a blow against President Lula and the president of Petrobras, Jean Paul Prates, Silveira altered the names on the list of nominees for the company's board of directors, replacing government-trusted appointees with people linked to the financial market. In response, the government postponed the Petrobras shareholders' meeting that would elect the new board.

With his initiative, Alexandre Silveira demonstrated a commitment to the neoliberal policies applied at Petrobras, and not to the agenda that won at the polls. This position is incompatible with the new Brazilian government. President Lula needs to reaffirm his commitment to definitively ending Petrobras' Import Parity Price, as well as the oil company's astronomical dividends, which do not contribute to restoring the dignity of the people or the development of the country.