Globo pleads for an end to the strike and for the preservation of the heart of the coup: Pedro Parente

247 - In an editorial published this Monday, Globo, a central player in the coup that removed the honest President Dilma Rousseff, who was replaced by a consortium of corrupt individuals so that the pre-salt oil reserves could be handed over to international groups, transferring the bill to Brazilian society, pleads for the truckers to return to work and for the preservation of the root of the entire problem, which is Pedro Parente at Petrobras. Check it out:

Editorial: It is urgent to restore the supply.

The current situation during the truckers' strike calls for prioritizing the resumption of unimpeded supply chain operations. This is the only acceptable alternative after the government agreed to all the sector's demands, including those of companies operating behind the scenes of the movement.

In an interview given by authorities early Monday afternoon, Minister Eliseu Padilha referred to "infiltrations" among truck drivers. It was predictable that political groups would try to take advantage of the crisis to fuel radicalization and amplify the problems faced by the population, including life-threatening risks for patients in hospitals and emergency rooms. This is a particularly irresponsible way to try to undermine the Temer government. The threat of a strike by oil workers, an initiative with a clear political-partisan objective, fits into this scenario.

But there is nothing that the Constitution and the broader legal framework do not foresee. The State has legal instruments to manage situations like this. The key point is that much has been granted, at an estimated financial cost of almost R$ 10 billion, to be borne by the whole of society. It should be remembered that the Union continues to accumulate heavy annual deficits. For this year, not including the cost of the debt, R$ 159 billion. This additional expense will have to be borne by society.

The guarantee of a fixed diesel price during predetermined periods, the offer of transportation by independent truckers for part of the cargo generated by Conab (National Supply Company), discounts for trucks at toll booths, and even a minimum price for freight, represent serious setbacks. In practice, this means a return to price freezes, market reservation, price controls, and even legal uncertainty, with the unilateral termination of contracts signed by highway concessionaires.

Damage control measures are necessary to prevent a recurrence of movements that use the population as hostages to subdue the government. The political class is called upon to act in the pursuit of general pacification.

It is understandable that truck drivers cannot manage their lives without a minimum of predictability in the price of diesel. Petrobras' policy of setting real prices is correct, without allowing the state-owned company to subsidize the consumer. It was in this way, during Dilma's government, that the company accumulated losses of tens of billions of reais, a bill that sooner or later would be presented to the Treasury. Burdened by corruption, the cause of inflated contracts, Petrobras virtually went bankrupt.

The agreement with the truckers transfers the responsibility for reimbursing the company to the Treasury when costs (oil prices and exchange rates) exceed prices at the pump. While one might put out a fire in an emergency, this is not an acceptable model.

Even if adjustments to the realistic pricing policy are necessary, it is crucial to preserve the philosophy of competition in the fuel market and transparent costs within the state-owned company. If the distribution market is oligopolized, there are state agencies that address the problem. There should be no shortage of interested parties in operating in this business sector. The same applies to refining, and for this, the state-owned company needs to continue its project of attracting new investors in refineries.

There is a comprehensive assessment to be made of everything, including learning how to manage these situations, always within the framework of democracy. It is essential, on the part of the protesters, to know when to back down, even more so when it becomes clear that the strike was successful.