Rio will pursue its royalties, even if it means going to court.
Senator Vital do Rô's proposal, that everyone—the federal government and the states—must relinquish part of the royalties revenue, is democratic in appearance only; if approved, it will undermine the acquired rights of Rio de Janeiro and other producing states in areas already licensed.
Rio247 and Agência Brasil - The rapporteur for the pre-salt royalty distribution project, Senator Vital do Rêgo, seems endowed with Solomonic justice when he proposes that everyone – the Union, producing and non-producing states and municipalities – give in so that the feasible proposal can be approved. “Everyone must give in so that everyone wins, that is the greatest task we will pursue,” said the parliamentarian. It seems simple, but it is not. The problem is that the senator's initial proposal includes not only the distribution of resources from non-licensed areas, but also from those already licensed – and in this case, producers will lose acquired resources. “The Rio de Janeiro delegation will vote against anything that does not serve its interests and, if it becomes necessary to go to court, there is no doubt that we will,” said Deputy Alessandro Molon (PT-RJ).
Molon's reaction is a preview of what the vote on the report on the distribution of pre-salt royalties will be like, which will be presented next Tuesday (11) to the parliamentarians of the commission created to work out an agreement around the proposal. It is this point of the project that could generate controversy in the vote. The expectation is that on the 19th the matter will be voted on in the Senate plenary, before going to the Chamber.
Vital do Rêgo also said that, according to the proposal, the federal government will receive approximately R$ 8 billion of the resources from oil exploration. Producing states will receive between R$ 11 billion and R$ 12 billion, and non-producing states R$ 8 billion. These figures refer to 2012. “Everyone has to make concessions regarding the calculated limit. Non-producing states, for example, have already given up 50% of what they initially claimed,” said the author of the bill, Senator Wellington Dias (PT-PI).
Last Tuesday, after a meeting between congressional leaders and the presidents of both houses, lawmakers decided to postpone the consideration of a presidential veto that prevented the distribution of royalties according to the criteria of the state and municipal participation funds. The vote, scheduled for this Wednesday, was moved to October 26th. The intention is to vote on an alternative proposal by then and prevent the veto from being put on the congressional agenda.