Good morning! European countries start moving to kill the Mercosur-EU deal. The outlook for the Brazilian economy. And what to expect from Jair Bolsonaro’s UN speech. (This newsletter is for platinum subscribers only. Become one now!)
BREAKING
The Federal Police are carrying out search and seizure operations in the Congress building this morning. Senator Fernando Bezerra Coelho, the government’s whip in the upper house, is suspected of having received kickbacks from a contractor which worked on the transfer of the São Francisco River, a project consisting of a network of dykes to take fresh water to arid regions in the Northeast.
The first veto to Mercosur’s deal with the EU
For the first time, the parliament of a European country has passed a motion to force its government into striking down the recently-signed trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur. The decision came from Austria, setting off worries that other countries could soon follow suit.
The official reason is the “unacceptable” environmental policies of Jair Bolsonaro, but Brazilian diplomats claim the issue has been instrumentalized. Even before the Amazon fire crisis, Vienna was resistant toward opening up its market to South American agricultural goods.
Why it matters. Twenty years...