Bolsonaro in Davos – Opinion



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Faced with unprecedented vexation, President Jair Bolsonaro avoids the press in Davos, cancels an interview, and lets Brazilian and foreign journalists and cameramen wait in a room at the World Economic Forum. Fifteen minutes before the event, scheduled for 16 hours, signs indicating the names of the president and ministers Paulo Guedes, Sergio Moro and Ernesto Araújo were at the table of the interviewees. Shortly before 4:00, we already knew that Bolsonaro had given up. Journalists stationed at the president's hotel have conveyed to their colleagues the confirmation of the cancellation and explanation: Bolsonaro had ceased to appear because of "the anti-professional approach of the press ". The rationale was given to the hotel by a presidential aide. At 4:15 pm, the Forum officially canceled the meeting.

Another explanation for the unusual attitude of Jair Bolsonaro was among accredited journalists in Davos: the interview was canceled because the new Brazilian president is unable to behave like a head of government or, more simply, as a president. public figure ready to play this role.

Bolsonaro, unless another plausible interpretation of his attitude, was not able to bear the burden during his first international test. The test had started the day before, when he was concise during a session of the Forum. He pbaded the dull test, but also without disaster. He succeeded in conveying an important part of his message: his commitment to creating a business-friendly environment in Brazil, with less taxation, greater legal certainty and less complicated rules. But he disappointed those who expected a clearer display of plans, indicating for example the steps of fiscal adjustment and recovery of the economy.

He left with this presentation a mixed impression – of caution on an unknown ground, but also of insufficient preparation for the test. At the World Economic Forum, leaders' presentations at special sessions usually follow a ritual. After a speech of up to 30 minutes, the guest answers questions from the founder and president of the institution, Professor Klaus Schwab. The speech lasted 6 minutes, a concise wonder for those who intend to announce plans for a new government. There were then almost telegraphic answers to the questions of the facilitator. Schwab seemed to end the interview mainly by discouragement, concluding in 15 minutes an event scheduled for half an hour.

Bolsonaro was right to talk about creating more favorable trading conditions. Brazil stands out, in international comparisons, by the bad environment for business life. Complaints often accentuate the tax burden, the complication of the tax system, the legal and cyber insecurity of bureaucratic rules. There have been improvements in some areas, such as reducing the time it takes to open or close a business or to import or export procedures. But you have to go much further and the government will give a good signal to investors if you are resolutely going in that direction.

The message would be much more interesting if it received, for example, information on how the government could reactivate infrastructure investments, indicating the expected participation of private capital.

Several ministers agitated the speech. They created a mess with an ideology and a lack of relevant information. It was another heated version of an election speech. Even the most conservative regulars in Davos should be uninterested in restoring the values ​​of the Brazilian family. The less patient must have found the statement about how the government team was chosen pathetic. "For the first time in Brazil," said Bolsonaro, "a president has set up a team of qualified ministers."

He will always try to convey clear ideas and pragmatism in several meetings and with the interview,. But the cancellation of the interview has proved its poor conditions for the exercise of a physically and psychologically demanding function such as the one it has just badumed.

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