Sarko, Back in Brazil, Makes Jet Deal, RealClearWorld - The Compass Blog. September 07, 2009 Nicolas Sarkozy is back in Brazil, just in time to celebrate National Day in Brasilia. O Globo has a slide show of the celebration. Sarko has a lot to celebrate. According to Bloomberg, Brazil’s Senate last week approved a bank loan of 6.1 billion Euros ($3.3 billion) that the government will use to build five submarines and 50 helicopters in partnership with France. The French will also be building a nuclear submarine for Brazil in the future. Additionally, the two countries signed a nuclear deal that would allow France's partially state-owned electric and gas utility, GDF Suez, to provide assistance to Electronuclear and Eletrobras to develop Brazil's nuclear power industry.
O Globo confirms today that France will be selling Brazil 36 Rafale fighter jets, which would be built by French aerospace company Dassault, for $2 billion. As you may recall, Sarkozy has been cultivating business with Brazil for some time now. Sarko Goes to Rio, RealClearWorld - The Compass Blog. December 23, 2008 French President Nicolas Sarkozy is in Brazil, where he and European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso are being welcomed by Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva for the two-day EU-Brazil summit. As I mentioned on Sunday, there are many summits held in Latin America throughout the year, but this one is remarkable for being Sarko's last summit as head of the EU, and also because of the proposed French technology transfer to help build South America's first nuclear propelled submarine.
As the BBC reported, With Brazil making extensive oil finds off its coast, the government here is becoming increasingly preoccupied with defending the country's coastal waters. Last week Brazil set out a new defense plan to protect the Amazon, and the country's new oil reserves. Last February France had agreed to transfer technology so Brazil could build an attack submarine, helicopters and a French Rafale fighter plane. Ms. Fausta Wertz also blogs at faustasblog.com. Brazil's Porous Jungle Border. Brazil's Porous Jungle Border. 3.2.3. Brazil. Country Rankings: World & Global Economy Rankings on Economic Freedom. GWTranscript_Apr12. Focus: Brazil. Brazil. Brazil is an electoral democracy. The 2010 national elections were free and fair. The constitution provides for a president, to be elected for up to two four-year terms, and a bicameral National Congress.
The Senate’s 81 members serve eight-year terms, with a portion coming up for election every four years, and the 513-member Chamber of Deputies is elected for four-year terms. The four largest political parties, accounting for more than half of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, are the centrist Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, the leftist PT, the conservative Democratic Party, and the center-left PSDB. Seventeen other parties are also represented in Congress. The electoral system encourages the proliferation of parties, a number of which are based in a single state. Corruption is an endemic problem in Brazil, ranking 69 out of 178 countries surveyed in Transparency International’s 2010 Corruption Perceptions Index. Fernandoaraujo.