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posted by janrinok on Monday March 19 2018, @07:37AM   Printer-friendly
from the pay-to-view dept.

Brazil's interim membership in the European Southern Observatory (ESO) has been suspended after the country failed to make the necessary payments:

Brazil's hope of joining the European Southern Observatory (ESO) came to an apparent end this week, as the 15-nation astronomical research consortium announced the suspension of a 7-year-old deal that would have allowed South America's largest country to become its first non-European member state.

In December 2010, with the support of Brazil's then-President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the ESO Council approved a plan, known as the Accession Agreement, in which the country pledged to pay €270 million over 10 years for full member status. The deal was approved by the Brazilian Congress in May 2015, but by then the country had new leadership. Neither of the nation's presidents following Lula—Dilma Rousseff or Michel Temer—ratified the agreement and Brazil never made any payments to the consortium. Critics of the agreement, including many politicians and some astronomers in Brazil, thought the original pledge of funding was way above the pay grade of the national science budget, especially as the country's finances worsened.


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 19 2018, @03:06PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 19 2018, @03:06PM (#654936)

    If esperto123 is right, Brazil's politicians are probably too corrupt or incompetent to play on the world stage, despite the large size and growing power of that country.