France-Brazil

Brazil: A Sustainable Economic Success?

Tue 18/10/2005 10:02 colloque Bresil

Reunion le 18-oct-05 au Centre Kleber sur la croissance économique au Brésil, avec la participation de plusieurs ministres brésiliens et français.

Le Bresil au Forum de l'e-Democracie

  Brazilian Delegation 
  Originally uploaded by alexdecarvalho.

Le Bresil fut l'invite d'honneur cette annee au 6eme Forum Mondial de l'e-Democracie, organise par Andre Santini et la mairie d'Issy-les-Moulineaux. La participation bresilienne fut finance par l'Union Europenne et par le Ministere du Developpement de l'Industrie et du Commerce (MDIC) du Bresil.

Les photos se trouvent ici.

Fin du salon

Thu 29/09/2005 18:38

Ce fut une expérience très sympathique, chaleureuse, parfois stressante, mais globalement très riche, d'organiser la participation brésilienne au salon de l'e-democracie à issy-les-moulineaux. Le Brésil est en avance pas rapport à la plupart des pays occidentaux en terme de rapprochement du gouvernement avec le peuple et beaucoup d'initiatives d'e-gouvernement sont en route dans d'autres pays.

Recapitulatif des Soucis de Lula

Cet article, en anglais, resume assez bien les soucis du gouvernement de Lula: Brazil’s Lula: Corruption Crisis May Impair Latin American Giant.

Brazil’s Lula: Corruption Crisis May Impair Latin American Giant

Aug. 1 2005 Press Release - Council On Hemispheric Affairs This analysis was prepared by COHA Research Associate Sara Evans. • Mushrooming allegations of bribery in President Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva’s administration are part of a wave of corruption charges sweeping through the Brazilian government. • The accusations are sapping Lula’s personal reputation, as well as the spirit of Brazilian democracy. Thus, Washington is likely to find it markedly easier to rein in Brazilian defiance in the areas of economic integration, oil policy and Lula’s friendship with Venezuela’s Chávez. The U.S. is also less likely to tolerate Brazil’s leadership of regional economic and political initiatives that do not resonate with those of the U.S. • In order to ensure his reelection, Lula must defend his reputation by proving that the legislature’s investigative probes have found their marks when their deliberations conclude. However, he must also push through a number of economic and social reforms to award his original constituency – the poor – from whom he is seen to have strayed. There will not be enough time in the current legislative session to do both; Lula must pick his poison. On July 27th, an investigative committee of the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies called for the arrest of publicity agent Marcus Valerio de Souza. De Souza was implicated in the growing corruption scandals assaulting President Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva’s government, specifically his left-leaning Worker’s Party (PT). The source of many of the allegations is Congressman Roberto Jefferson, head of the Labor Party (PTB), whose testimony before the legislature’s Ethics Committee directly accused Souza, along with Lula’s former chief of staff Jose Dirceu, former PT leader Jose Genoino and former PT treasurer Delubio Soares of participating in a scheme to collect at least $12,000 in bribes from private companies on a regular basis. This money was then distributed monthly to individual members of the Progressive Party (PP) and the Liberal Party (PL) in return for their support of the PT’s legislative initiatives. Dirceu, Genoino, and Soares have since resigned in separate attempts to protect Lula from the splattering mud. Despite his lame assertions that, since assuming the presidency, he “no longer took part” in the PT’s operation, Lula is at the helm of an administration that is rapidly losing its reputation for probity and honesty. Payback? Vote-buying schemes are not the only instances of alleged corruption in the upper tiers of the Brazilian government, and Jefferson’s accusations may have been motivated partially by vengeance. On May 14, at the beginning of the recent raft of investigations, the national Brazilian weekly news magazine Veja published a report accusing Jefferson, a federal deputy in charge of a number of state companies, of overseeing an embezzlement scheme involving the Correio, the Brazilian national post office, in which he demanded donations for the PTB from. Jefferson’s PTB had been a longstanding congressional ally of Lula’s PT until the latter called for an investigation into Jefferson’s alleged wrongdoing on May 19. Soon after, Jefferson came out with his vote-buying allegations against his former legislative allies. These latest charges against Jefferson are not surprising in light of allegations last year that the congressman demanded $180,000 monthly from the PT in return for his legislative support; Jefferson appears to have been an active participant in the very scheme he is now exposing. Damage Control In response to the allegations, which help constitute the most flagrant political scandal since Lula came to power in 2003, the president has reshuffled his cabinet. Lula’s new Chief of Staff assumed his post on June 16, and further changes occurred on July 6 as the ministers for telecommunications, health, and energy and mines were replaced by members of the centrist Democratic Movement Party (PMDB). On July 8, a new minister of labor was appointed, and on July 12, the new ministers of education and science and technology took over. Finally, on July 21, the towns and social security ministries received new leaders. Lately, the PT won control of the parliamentary investigative commission (CPI) set up by the legislature to probe the post office allegations involving Jefferson. Lula will need to make absolutely certain the committee’s findings are authentic and credible. Domestic Popularity Remains High Lula has been revered as a genuine people’s reformer since his election in 2003. His Zero Hunger Program and other social initiatives have contributed to his domestic popularity; a recent poll by the Datafolha Institute indicates that, if presidential elections were held today, Lula would win easily. Sam Logan of the InfoAmericas group ascribes the president’s appeal to a perception that he has “a desire to fight for Brazil’s poor.” Since Lula’s inauguration, fiscally conservative policies have kept the country’s economy growing, providing new funding for the president’s ambitious social programs and keeping Brazil attractive to international investors. As the Brazilian stock market has been demonstrated, its daily tally and the value of the currency rides on day-to-day developments in the corruption investigation. Latin American Ties Since his election, Lula has been a strong proponent of political and economic integration among Latin American nations. Brazil is a leader of MERCOSUR, the Southern Cone’s free trade bloc that also includes Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina as well as a number of associate members. Lula also demonstrated strong support for the December launch of the South American Community of Nations project, which aims to integrate MERCOSUR and the Andean Community into a continent-wide free trade area. Concurrently, Lula has been pursuing closer ties with Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez and Argentina’s Nestor Kirchner. The three leaders held a summit on May 11 in Brazil to discuss the formation of Petrosur, a regional oil company that would integrate the state-controlled companies of Petrobras, PDVSA and Enarsa. In addition, Lula and Chávez have signed a number of trade agreements that are predicted to increase bilateral trade between the two nations from $1.6 billion in 2004 to $3 billion in 2005, according to a Latinnews interview with Fernando Portela, president of the Venezuela-Brazil Chamber of Commerce. Behind these regional negotiations seems to lie a challenge to U.S. hegemony in the region. Chávez has openly challenged U.S. “imperialism” in the region, threatened to cut off Venezuelan oil supplies, and allied himself with longtime U.S. enemy Fidel Castro. Chávez thrives in his new role as Latin America’s uncrowned firebrand. The outspoken president represents the radical wing of the region’s shift to the left, while Lula has been seen as a moderating influence. The Brazilian president occasionally has been called on to act as a middleman to persuade Chávez to abandon stances that Washington views as belligerent and radical. On the other hand, he also has defended Chávez’s inflammatory rhetoric against U.S. critics, observing at a summit in late March that "Venezuela has the right to remain a sovereign nation and to make its own decisions.” This kind of defense, along with sales of Brazilian arms to his wayward ally, has added to Washington’s regional anxieties. It would seem that Lula has been walking a tightrope between affirming regional solidarity and placating the U.S. Now, however, in light of the corruption allegations, Lula’s own credibility is at stake, and the U.S. may find it easier to defuse his challenge to U.S. regional hegemony. Washington’s Unease As the U.S. endeavors to promote the linkage between free trade and democracy around the globe, the potential for political instability in Brazil adds to Washington’s list of anxieties over what is happening in the region. Lula’s friendship with Chávez and support for regional economic initiatives as alternatives to the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA) have created rifts in Brazil’s ties with Washington. Rampant corruption in the Lula administration not only threatens democracy’s good name in Brazil, but adds to the country’s list of transgressions, including financial misdeeds, environmental lapses and mistreatment of its aboriginal population. International Ambitions Lula’s mid-July visit to Paris for Bastille Day highlighted growing ties between the two countries. France is currently supporting Brazil’s bid for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council, and the South American behemoth could be poised to make an explosive entrance onto the international stage. In pursuance of this goal, Brazil took on the leadership of the UN peacekeeping force attached to the UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) in June 2004. Brazil is the largest contributor of troops to the now controversial mission, and has acquired a reputation for countenancing the perpetration of atrocities against Haitian civilians by the soldiers under its command, simply because these Haitians support the overthrown leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The latest installment of violence was on July 6, 2005, when MINUSTAH troops commanded by Brazil lurched out of control and proceeded to massacre 23 Haitians in Port-au-Prince’s Cite Soleil neighborhood. Lula’s Quandary Unfortunately for Lula, a June Datafolha poll showed that 77 percent of the Brazilian public believes that Lula is at least partially responsible for the recent corruption scandals, and the perception of his personal guilt can only increase as the allegations multiply. However, another recent poll by Instituto Sensus shows the president’s personal approval rating stands at 60 percent. In order to salvage the PT’s credibility with the population, which has shown volatile opinion swings over the issue, the investigation of the corruption cases will have to occupy a good deal of the legislature’s time in the coming months. According to Jonathan Wheatley of Business Week, this means that “Lula would likely have to shelve plans to reform rigid labor laws, overhaul a dysfunctional judiciary, and streamline a bewildering tax system.” Though government officials have begun negotiating a “governability pact” that would determine the agenda of the legislature and guarantee that important reform legislation would receive a hearing in the chamber of deputies, it is doubtful that the competing demands of reform and investigation can be effectively managed by an already divided government. The reforms, which are essential to Lula’s legislative agenda and his prospects of regaining political equilibrium, must be passed if he is to ensure his popularity before the upcoming election. The popular president seems to find himself precariously situated between the horns of an intractable dilemma: only by completing both the investigations and the reforms can he maintain his high approval ratings, but due to time constraints, one of these initiatives will probably fall by the wayside. As much as he attempts to distance himself from his floundering PT, Lula must stand by the party he helped create during its great travails, or risk being accused of opportunism and cynicism.

Erro fundamental de atribuição

Click here for English or if you followed the link from Alan Connor's BBC article.

Segundo a BBC, 1: Jean Charles de Menezes sai de uma casa vigiada pela segurança et chega na estação de metro Stockwell
2: Testemunhas dizem que ele pulou a a roleta do metrô
3 Depois correu a escada rolante abaixo quando 20 policiais clandestinos dele se aproximaram
4: Se recusa a obedecer ordens policiais e tenta entrar em um dos trens da Northern Line

O Globo: "Em uma reportagem reproduzida em sua edição eletrônica, o 'The Guardian' ressaltou a inocência do brasileiro, que recebeu cinco tiros na cabeça à queima-roupa ao ser tomado por um terrorista pelos policiais .... Vivendo na Inglaterra há três anos, o mineiro Jean Charles de Menezes ... tinha planos de voltar para o Brasil em um prazo de seis meses. Jean cursou até o segundo grau na cidade de Gonzaga, em Minas Gerais, foi morar em São Paulo aos 18 anos, onde fez um curso de eletricista, e partiu para a Europa aos 24 anos em busca de uma oportunidade de emprego."

Nei Duclós: "Tua biografia escassa, Jean Charles, jaz fuzilada com cinco tiros pelas costas. Tua precariedade é tão profunda, que por instantes foste confundido com um terrorista no metrô de Londres. Nossa vista cansada embarcou nessa nota fria, antes que te reconhecessem, antes que confessassem a culpa. Não eras apenas a rotina dos assassinatos de uma metrópole tomada pelo medo. Eras um pouco mais. Descobriram que encarnaste por alguns minutos esse pânico que gera o terror e põe a culpa nas vítimas. Vinhas de um nebuloso conjunto de apartamentos vigiados pela vingança. Ias para o trabalho com teus olhos de índio, que uma testemunha definiu como asiáticos, com tuas pernas criadas no interior de Minas, que ao expressarem pressa sugeriam fuga. Vestias um casaco num dia de calor, porque aprendeste como é traiçoeiro o clima para quem confia excessivamente nele. Mas a suspeita provocada pela tua roupa era apenas a violência engatilhada na esquina. Não eras tu, eletricista sem nome na multidão em trânsito, em busca da cidadania que te negaram. Eras um "criminoso" levando embaixo do braço, oculto no casaco improvável, uma estupidez que enfim puxou o gatilho."

Jean Charles de Menezes parece ser vitima de erro fundamental de atribuição, tendência das pessoas a superestimarem as características disposicionais e a subestimarem as características situacionais, ao explicarem o comportamento do outro. Estudos mostram que o erro fundamental de atribuição seria característico das culturas ocidentais individualistas (Inglaterra) e não das culturas coletivistas (Brasil).

Jean Charles de Menezes, recquiescat en pace.

In English:

The British police are ill-prepared to deal with their new reality and may need training to reduce fundamental attribution errors when dealing with suspected criminals: "people tend to have a default assumption that what a person does is based more on what "kind" of person he is, rather than the social and environmental forces at work on that person. This default assumption leads to people sometimes making erroneous explanations for behavior."

As Malcolm Gladwell, author of Blink, explains:

"on a whim, I let [my hair] grow wild, as it had been when I was teenager. Immediately, in very small but significant ways, my life changed. I started getting speeding tickets all the time--and I had never gotten any before. I started getting pulled out of airport security lines for special attention. And one day, while walking along 14th Street in downtown Manhattan, a police van pulled up on the sidewalk, and three officers jumped out. They were looking, it turned out, for a rapist, and the rapist, they said, looked a lot like me. They pulled out the sketch and the description. I looked at it, and pointed out to them as nicely as I could that in fact the rapist looked nothing at all like me. He was much taller, and much heavier, and about fifteen years younger (and, I added, in a largely futile attempt at humor, not nearly as good-looking.) All we had in common was a large head of curly hair. After twenty minutes or so, the officers finally agreed with me, and let me go. On a scale of things, I realize this was a trivial misunderstanding. African-Americans in the United State suffer indignities far worse than this all the time. But what struck me was how even more subtle and absurd the stereotyping was in my case: this wasn't about something really obvious like skin color, or age, or height, or weight. It was just about hair. Something about the first impression created by my hair derailed every other consideration in the hunt for the rapist, and the impression formed in those first two seconds exerted a powerful hold over the officers' thinking over the next twenty minutes. That episode on the street got me thinking about the weird power of first impressions."

Further, some evidence supports the contention that person living in cultures which tend to emphasize the individual over the group may be more likely to commit the fundamental attribution error.

Sadly, Jean Charles de Menezes seems to be the victim of this type of error by British police.

Delanoë Inaugure Paris Plage 2005

  Delanoe at Paris Plage Inauguration 
  Originally uploaded by alexdecarvalho.

Voici quelques photos de l'inauguration de Paris Plage 2005 qu'à eu lieu aujourd'hui à midi dans la magnifique Mairie de Paris, avec le Maire Bertrand Delanoë et l'ambassadeur du Brésil en France, Sergio Amaral. Cette quatrième edition de Paris Plage met en honneur le Brésil, en raison de l'année du Brésil en France (fallait-il vraiment le préciser ?). Zé Ricardo et Sandra de Sá ont chantés quelques musiques brésiliennes au début de l'évenement et les festivités ont continués aux quais de Seine avec une batucada sous le soleil.

EU Commission Overhauls Sugar Trade Rules

Link: news - EU Commission Announces Major Overhaul Of Sugar Trade Rules.

The European Commission proposal will cut guaranteed prices to European producers by 39 percent following a successful challenge to the subsidy system at the World Trade Organization by Australia, Brazil and Thailand. The WTO ruled in April that the EU's system of subsidies to guarantee high prices for European sugar producers was illegal. It agreed with Brazil, the world's biggest producer, which argued that the EU system depressed world prices and made it impossible for others to compete. EU sugar prices are more than four times higher than the global market rate and are protected by massive import tariffs ....

Reuters meanwhile reports the world's top three sugar cane exporters, Brazil, Thailand and Australia, welcomed the reform of Europe's heavily subsidized sugar industry, but Caribbean nations said it would cost them millions of dollars in lost revenue. Brazil, with 40 percent of the free world market, is eventually expected to fill much of the vacuum left by the EU in international trade. Thailand, the world's second-ranked exporter, said producers outside the European Union would stand to gain from the overhaul.

Mario Sergio Conti

Mario Sergio Conti relata as relações franco-britânicas na sua coluna, no mínimo.

No nível popular, as relações entre os rosbifes (que é jeito com que, numa metonímia culinária, os continentais se referem aos ilhéus) e os sapos (vice-versa) são ambíguas. Os franceses são fascinados pelos ingleses. Acham eles peculiares. Em Paris e nas grandes metrópoles, da alta classe média para cima, gostariam que Chirac imitasse Thatcher e Blair: quebrasse os sindicatos, impusesse medidas neoliberais, tirasse a França da pasmaceira, mas não a tornasse vassala do Império americano. Esses sapos gostariam de ter casas maiores, enriquecer e, quem sabe, até ter um rei e uma rainha de brincadeirinha – tudo como os rosbifes.

Nos meios rurais, trabalhistas e do funcionalismo público, é inamovível o apego ao estatismo francês, que lhes garante algumas proteções sociais. Ninguém quer saber do modelo inglês.

Ver tambem "Rafarinhadas, bushismos, lulices: estilos".

EU - Mercosur Reprennent les Négociations

Link: Agence Europe

Luxembourg, 27/05/2005 (Agence Europe) - A l'occasion d'une réunion ministérielle UE-Mercosur coprésidée par le ministre luxembourgeois des Affaires étrangères et président en exercice du Conseil de l'UE, Jean Asselborn et son homologue du Paraguay, Leila Rashid de Cowles, le 26 mai à Luxembourg dans le cadre de la 12ème réunion ministérielle UE-Groupe de Rio, Européens et Sud-Américains ont décidé de retourner d'ici juillet à la table des négociations au niveau ministériel pour relancer le vaste projet d'accord d'association - commercial mais aussi politique - entre les deux parties, des négociations qui sont dans l'impasse depuis octobre dernier.

Link: Agence Europe

Luxembourg, 27/05/2005 (Agence Europe) - At the EU-Mercosur ministerial meeting, co-chaired by the Luxembourg foreign minister and president-in-office of the Council of the EU, Jean Asselborn, and his Paraguayan opposite number, Leila Rashid de Cowles, which was held in Luxembourg on 26 May as part of the 12th EU-Rio Group ministerial meeting, Europeans and South Americans decided to return to the negotiating table at ministerial level before the end of July, to relaunch the wide-reaching draft association agreement- covering political issues (.pdf) as well as trade- negotiations on which have been at stalemate since last October.

Link: Agence Europe

Luxembourg, 27/05/2005 (Agence Europe) - A l'occasion d'une réunion ministérielle UE-Mercosur coprésidée par le ministre luxembourgeois des Affaires étrangères et président en exercice du Conseil de l'UE, Jean Asselborn et son homologue du Paraguay, Leila Rashid de Cowles, le 26 mai à Luxembourg dans le cadre de la 12ème réunion ministérielle UE-Groupe de Rio, Européens et Sud-Américains ont décidé de retourner d'ici juillet à la table des négociations au niveau ministériel pour relancer le vaste projet d'accord d'association - commercial mais aussi politique - entre les deux parties, des négociations qui sont dans l'impasse depuis octobre dernier.  

Lors de la conférence de presse finale, le chef de la diplomatie luxembourgeoise, la Commissaire aux relations extérieures, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, et Leila Rashid de Cowles ont insisté sur leur volonté commune « d'imprimer un nouvel élan politique à ces négociations ». Devant ses partenaires du Mercosur, l'UE a « réaffirmé que sa première priorité en Amérique latine est de réaliser un accord d'association ambitieux et équilibré avec le Mercosur » qui « soit à la fois politique, de coopération et de commerce », a assuré Mme Ferrero-Waldner, soulignant l'« intérêt politique stratégique » d'un bel accord pour chacune des parties. La Commissaire européenne a précisé que Bruxelles et Asunción vont fixer une date pour une réunion ministérielle qui devrait permettre d'établir des orientations et un calendrier d'ici fin juillet et qui serait précédée d'une réunion préparatoire. Mme Rashid de Cowles a assuré pour sa part la « forte volonté politique des pays du Mercosur de s'engager dans le dialogue politique avec leurs frères européens », pour mener à bien les négociations entamées en 1999. « Tant les Etats membres de l'UE que ceux du Mercosur sont trés vulnérables et sensibles sur le plan commercial, et nous souhaitons un accord qui soit le plus large possible », a-t-elle ajouté en mettant l'accent sur son volet « dialogue politique ».

L'UE a d'autre part assuré le Mercosur de son plein soutien au processus d'intégration régionale « non seulement en raison de son énorme potentiel économique et commercial, mais afin de renforcer la stabilité du continent sud-américain », a indiqué M. Asselborn, ajoutant que la réunion ministérielle avait décidé de renforcer le dialogue politique par des consultations rapprochées bi-régionales et multilatérales sur des questions d'intérêt mutuel.

Link: Agence Europe

Luxembourg, 27/05/2005 (Agence Europe) - At the EU-Mercosur ministerial meeting, co-chaired by the Luxembourg foreign minister and president-in-office of the Council of the EU, Jean Asselborn, and his Paraguayan opposite number, Leila Rashid de Cowles, which was held in Luxembourg on 26 May as part of the 12th EU-Rio Group ministerial meeting, Europeans and South Americans decided to return to the negotiating table at ministerial level before the end of July, to relaunch the wide-reaching draft association agreement- covering political issues as well as trade- negotiations on which have been at stalemate since last October.

At the final press conference, the head of Luxembourg diplomacy, the Commissioner for External Relations, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, and Leila Rashid de Cowles stressed their common willingness to “breathe new political impetus into these negotiations”. The EU “reiterated that its main priority in Latin America is to conclude an ambitious and well-balanced association agreement with Mercosur” which “covers politics, cooperation and trade”, said Ms Ferrero-Waldner, stressing the “strategic political interest” of an agreement of this kind for each of the parties. The European Commissioner added that Brussels and Asunción are to set a date for a ministerial meeting which will lead to guidelines and a timetable between now and the end of July, and which will be preceded by a preparatory meeting. Ms Rashid de Cowles pledged the “strong political goodwill of the Mercosur countries to enter into political dialogue with their European cousins”, in order to bring to a conclusion negotiations which were started in 1999. “The Member States of the EU and those of Mercosur are very vulnerable and sensitive commercially, and we hope for the broadest possible agreement”, she added, with emphasis on the “political dialogue” plank.

The EU also assured Mercosur of its full support for the process of regional integration, “not solely due to its enormous economic and commercial potential, but in order to reinforce the stability of the South American continent”, said Mr Asselborn, adding that the ministerial meeting led to a decision to boost political dialogue by means of closer bi-regional and multi-lateral negotiations on issues of mutual interest.

Brasil e França Firmam Novo Acordo de Co-Produção

Link: Brasil e França firmam novo acordo de co-produção.

Nesta quarta-feira (dia 18 de maio), em Cannes, o ministro da Cultura, Gilberto Gil, e o secretário do Audiovisual, Orlando Senna, reuniram-se com autoridades cimetográficas francesas para tratar do Acordo de co-produção entre Brasil e França.

Conforme foi acertado durante o encontro, o novo acordo deverá ser assinado, em julho, pelos presidentes Lula da Silva e Jacques Chirac. Os dois estarão juntos em Paris e participam do Desfile que acontece no Champs Elysées, na data comemorativa à Revolução Francesa (dia 14 de julho). O presidente brasileiro foi convidado pelo presidente francês a acompanhá-lo nesse tradicional evento, tendo em vista a celebração do Ano do Brasil na França.

Essa homenagem é reflexo da qualidade do cinema brasileiro, comprovado no festival durante as exibições de Cidade Baixa, de Sergio Machado, e Cinema, Aspirinas e Urubus, de Marcelo Gomes. Ambos os filmes, que concorrem na mostra Un Certain Regard (Um Certo Olhar), foram ovacionados pelo público europeu.

Via Fernanda Levy.