"We're going to bring Eletrobrás back," says Rui Falcão, who will assume the presidency of the Chamber's Constitution and Justice Committee.
The congressman, who previously chaired the Workers' Party (PT), praises Lula for taking back control of the state-owned semiconductor company and advocates summoning Roberto Campos Neto to explain the "pornographic interest rates."
247 - Federal deputy Rui Falcão (PT-SP), who was nominated by his party to chair the Constitution and Justice Committee starting next Tuesday, says that the Lula government should regain control of Eletrobrás, the state-owned energy company that was privatized during the Jair Bolsonaro administration, when banker Paulo Guedes was in charge of the economy.
"We are going to bring Eletrobras back," he said in an interview with TV 247. "President Lula, I have heard several statements from him, which appear as if they were isolated statements. And I have made a point of saying that President Lula is right, because the privatization of Eletrobras was a scandal. I'm not even going into the moral aspects, but the damage to the Brazilian economy. So, this idea of conducting a study and tasking the Attorney General's Office with studying the possibility of reviewing this privatization is an excellent initiative," he added.
For Rui Falcão, reviving Eletrobrás is a necessary measure for the country's growth.
"This is one of the things that demonstrates that President Lula has extraordinary lucidity. He is thinking about the development of the national economy. We cannot be satisfied with the 0,79% growth this year, as the agencies, those people in the market, are predicting," he added.
Today, the federal government holds 42 percent of the shares, but its voting rights in the company represent only 10%. "And to buy back the shares, it would have to pay three times the share price. How do you carry out a privatization like that?" he asked.
Rui Falcão also spoke about the National Center for Advanced Electronic Technology (CEITEC), a public company that the Bolsonaro government was trying to liquidate.
"They had laid off 89 employees. Highly competent people. And going against the grain of history. Everyone needs chips, semiconductors, there's a global crisis. And we're shutting down a state-of-the-art factory because Bolsonaro is against the country's development. So, at the right time, President Lula is reinstating the working group to rebuild this factory. We're going to manufacture chips, semiconductors, for the automotive industry, cell phones, for the entire 4.0 economy, and so on. It's one of the good things we're doing," he declared.
Rui Falcão also advocated for a public hearing in the Chamber of Deputies with the president of the Central Bank, Roberto Campos Neto, so that he can explain the high interest rates, which are being heavily criticized by the President of the Republic. "That's why he's been talking so much about these immoral, obscene interest rates that the president of the Central Bank is charging. Because otherwise you won't be able to achieve growth of 2 points, 2.1 points, as several countries with economies similar to ours are predicting for this year. So, the Central Bank's policy has to change. Autonomy doesn't mean independence," he commented.
The presidency of the CCJ marks the return of the Workers' Party to an important body in the Chamber of Deputies after 2015, when Eduardo Cunha was elected president of the House. Rui Falcão stated, however, that, as president, he will avoid giving his opinion on topics under debate.
When he deems it necessary to express his opinion on the content of matters under discussion, he intends to step down from presiding over the session and take the microphone as a member of parliament. For him, democracy demands balance and respect. "Shouting leads nowhere, it only wears you down," he stated.