Berliner Boersenzeitung - Temer: the man poised to be Brazil's next president

EUR -
AED 4.325935
AFN 82.295246
ALL 97.926243
AMD 452.928874
ANG 2.108041
AOA 1080.157743
ARS 1459.669854
AUD 1.798908
AWG 2.12321
AZN 2.007149
BAM 1.955925
BBD 2.378252
BDT 144.489211
BGN 1.956381
BHD 0.443228
BIF 3509.023701
BMD 1.177925
BND 1.500096
BOB 8.139519
BRL 6.38271
BSD 1.177875
BTN 100.523408
BWP 15.600995
BYN 3.854646
BYR 23087.331819
BZD 2.365951
CAD 1.603098
CDF 3398.314319
CHF 0.935405
CLF 0.028547
CLP 1095.129815
CNY 8.440309
CNH 8.439249
COP 4689.39895
CRC 594.837921
CUC 1.177925
CUP 31.215015
CVE 110.27203
CZK 24.646321
DJF 209.743371
DKK 7.461454
DOP 70.494494
DZD 152.109697
EGP 58.022699
ERN 17.668876
ETB 163.469121
FJD 2.637615
FKP 0.863276
GBP 0.862601
GEL 3.204416
GGP 0.863276
GHS 12.190777
GIP 0.863276
GMD 84.22618
GNF 10215.651249
GTQ 9.056577
GYD 246.42571
HKD 9.24601
HNL 30.773962
HRK 7.536412
HTG 154.649859
HUF 399.203326
IDR 19062.0084
ILS 3.944853
IMP 0.863276
INR 101.068035
IQD 1542.998366
IRR 49620.09495
ISK 142.446936
JEP 0.863276
JMD 188.001985
JOD 0.835195
JPY 170.179596
KES 152.179701
KGS 103.010002
KHR 4732.301685
KMF 492.373101
KPW 1060.088497
KRW 1605.924627
KWD 0.359609
KYD 0.981663
KZT 611.718997
LAK 25381.61808
LBP 105536.527962
LKR 353.392529
LRD 236.165056
LSL 20.719221
LTL 3.478107
LVL 0.712516
LYD 6.344404
MAD 10.572174
MDL 19.841265
MGA 5300.337897
MKD 61.533923
MMK 2472.967489
MNT 4223.442545
MOP 9.523607
MRU 46.74898
MUR 52.948179
MVR 18.14445
MWK 2042.530211
MXN 21.945864
MYR 4.972067
MZN 75.340533
NAD 20.719221
NGN 1802.15516
NIO 43.342763
NOK 11.881146
NPR 160.837253
NZD 1.943451
OMR 0.452069
PAB 1.177875
PEN 4.176666
PGK 4.86531
PHP 66.570482
PKR 334.365716
PLN 4.243888
PYG 9386.598396
QAR 4.304974
RON 5.059075
RSD 117.187471
RUB 92.591703
RWF 1693.207942
SAR 4.416905
SBD 9.820272
SCR 16.592058
SDG 707.348348
SEK 11.264384
SGD 1.500092
SHP 0.925664
SLE 26.444855
SLL 24700.50455
SOS 673.142913
SRD 44.036774
STD 24380.6712
SVC 10.306657
SYP 15315.211479
SZL 20.70332
THB 38.118091
TJS 11.45473
TMT 4.134517
TND 3.431819
TOP 2.758823
TRY 46.91719
TTD 7.988509
TWD 34.086841
TZS 3109.79825
UAH 49.123132
UGX 4225.269361
USD 1.177925
UYU 47.273014
UZS 14790.942924
VES 128.951587
VND 30838.07893
VUV 140.323223
WST 3.056689
XAF 655.99882
XAG 0.031783
XAU 0.000353
XCD 3.183402
XDR 0.815852
XOF 655.99882
XPF 119.331742
YER 285.234989
ZAR 20.734144
ZMK 10602.74357
ZMW 28.533819
ZWL 379.291399
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

Temer: the man poised to be Brazil's next president
Temer: the man poised to be Brazil's next president

Temer: the man poised to be Brazil's next president

Michel Temer used to be known in Brazil as a behind-the-scenes operator, but that was before he pulled the trigger on a masterful plot to topple his boss, President Dilma Rousseff, and take her job.

Text size:

After months of playing his cards close to his chest, the vice president is poised to take over as president Thursday, when the Senate is expected to open an impeachment trial against Rousseff.

Brazil's first woman president will then be suspended for up to six months, and Temer, a constitutional scholar who kept a low profile until now, will take her place.

Rousseff's running mate-turned-nemesis has already lined up a business-friendly cabinet and hatched plans to pivot away from 13 years of left-leaning policy in a bid to get the ailing South American giant's economy out of recession.

But with popularity ratings as dismal as Rousseff's and many of his allies implicated in corruption, Temer will face a tall task restoring stability in Brazil.

The 75-year-old lawyer had long been a backroom wheeler-dealer. He was perhaps best known to voters for having a 32-year-old former beauty contestant as a wife.

But as Brazil's economic boom turned to spectacular bust and a corruption scandal at state oil company Petrobras tainted nearly the entire political class, Temer slowly emerged from the shadows to seize the starring role.

- Kingmaker to king -

Rousseff and her running mate always made an awkward couple. As head of the PMDB, a centrist party, Temer represented the biggest force in the former leftist guerrilla's shaky coalition.

For years, the PMDB played the role of kingmaker, content with pulling the strings and keeping the keys to the government pork barrel.

Temer played his hand cautiously, gradually making his disapproval of Rousseff known as the momentum to impeach her built.

In October, he published a document called "A bridge to the future" in which he criticized "excesses" in government policies. And in December, he complained of being treated as "a decorative vice president."

But while lower-level PMDB supporters liked to refer to him as "President Temer," he insisted he had no such ambitions, except perhaps for the next scheduled elections in 2018.

Finally, in March, he came out into the open, calling on the PMDB to abandon the government and go into opposition.

Temer followed that up by brazenly leaking an audio recording of himself practicing the speech he'd give if he were to replace Rousseff.

In it, he said his "great mission from now is the calming of the country, the unification of the country."

The president calls him a leading "conspirator" in the impeachment process, which she says has turned the commonly accepted practice of papering over shortfalls in the government's accounts into an excuse for a "coup."

- Poet and ladies' man -

For someone known as a colorless political insider, Temer has a surprising side.

Not only is he married to a woman less than half his age, but this is his third marriage. He has five children born across four decades.

Nor is he the stuffed suit that he might appear to be on television. In addition to a highly regarded work on constitutional law, this child of Lebanese immigrants has authored a book of poetry.

He has served three times as speaker of the lower house of Congress and has been president of the PMDB for 15 years.

Temer does not apologize for his dour manner, telling Piaui magazine in 2010 that joking is not his thing: "I don't know how to do this. If I tried, it would be a disaster."

That persona may account for his rock-bottom popularity -- only two percent of the country would vote for him in a presidential election, according to a recent poll.

Political analysts say his most immediate threat comes from the Petrobras scandal, in which a host of powerful PMDB colleagues are implicated.

Temer himself is not under investigation, but a key witness has accused him of participating in schemes to bilk the company of billions of dollars.

The VP also stands accused of the same budgetary shenanigans that Rousseff is being impeached for -- and opponents are calling for him to face the same fate.

(B.Hartmann--BBZ)