Brazil's President Rousseff suspended

Brazil's president Dilma Rousseff has been suspended from office. Political opponents accuse her of fudging the budget figures in the 2014 election campaign. Rousseff says she is the victim of a coup. Some commentators also see her suspension as undemocratic. Others are delighted to see the left fail like this in South America.

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Trouw (NL) /

Suspension from office undemocratic

The suspension of the Brazilian president is based on unproven accusations, Trouw complains:

“Rousseff is perhaps unpopular and less capable than we had assumed, but her failure is more of a political nature. She was neither able to prevent Brazil from sliding into an economic crisis nor was she able to prevent some of her fellow party members from lining their pockets. But a proven crime it is not. … In a well-functioning democracy political failure leads to a changeover of power in elections. … But as things look now the president is being pushed out of the saddle with a trick manoeuvre and replaced by a politician who is himself suspected of corruption. … Brazil is taking a big step backwards.”

ABC (ES) /

Restore Brazil's unity

Rousseff's suspension reveals the false hopes of the left in Latin America, the conservative daily ABC concludes:

“The era of structural left-wing policy, the myth of a progressive Latin America, has failed in Brazil, as it has in all countries that have attempted to put this ideology into practice. … Temer's first goal must be to restore unity in Brazilian society and ensure the preservation of the institutions. Too much is at stake - and for Spain too - to leave a state like this at the mercy of a self-destructive chain reaction. Brazil plays a key role on the American continent and because of its size and economic and intellectual importance what happens there cannot fail to have consequences for the rest of the continent.”

Corriere della Sera (IT) /

Globalisation makes rules necessary

The situation in Brazil is symptomatic of emerging countries, Corriere della Sera believes:

“The impeachment proceedings against Dilma Rousseff show that under the influence of global competition the large emerging countries have now achieved their goal without having to pass reforms or introduce regulations. ... Trade and business must now thrive in a system of international integration that is transparent and based on clear rules. That's why the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership now under discussion is important: to prevent the next phase of the global economy from becoming a competition without rules in which conflict prevails over cooperation.”