The rapporteur for the royalties bill wants to convince the government to concede more.

Senator Vital do Rêgo (PMDB-PB), rapporteur of the bill dealing with the distribution of pre-salt oil royalties, will meet today (17) with members of the government's economic team to try to convince them of the need to reduce the special participation to which the government is entitled from 50% to 40%. "The economic team is having difficulty digesting this, but we will continue talking," he said.

So far, the government has agreed to reduce the federal government's share of the special participation from 50% to 46% and from 30% to 20% of royalties. According to the rapporteur, the federal government needs to concede more to guarantee R$ 8,5 billion for non-producing states and municipalities.

The meeting with representatives from the Ministry of Finance will include the participation of the PT leader in the Chamber of Deputies, Paulo Teixeira (SP), the PMDB leader in the Chamber of Deputies, Henrique Eduardo Alves (RN), the PMDB leader in the Senate, Senator Renan Calheiros (AL), and Senator José Pimentel (PT-CE).

The rapporteur is also seeking the support of the parliamentary committee created to discuss the division of royalties. This afternoon, Vital do Rêgo is organizing meetings with deputies and senators to discuss the final points of the proposal, which should be voted on by Wednesday (19) in the Senate. In the first part of the meeting, he received suggestions from federal deputy Marcelo Castro (PMDB-PI), representative of the non-oil producing states. Next, the meeting will be with Senator Francisco Dornelles (PP-RJ), who represents the producing states.

Vital do Rêgo guaranteed that there will be a vigil until tomorrow to try to reach a consensus. “We will continue meeting permanently until we reach a final figure. I have a commitment to the [Senate] president José Sarney and to the leader of my party to deliver the report tomorrow.”