It’s a tradition for German heads of government to at least briefly attend United Nations climate conferences. Former Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his predecessor Angela Merkel did so, and current Chancellor Friedrich Merz from the conservative Christian Democratic Union(CDU) was no exception. That’s why he flew to Belem, the city in northern Brazil on the Amazon River, where this year’s climate conference is being held. He was there for just a few hours at a time when he’s facing significant political challenges back home in Germany, such as the dispute within his own party over the future of state subsidies for old age pensions.
‘Who among you would like to stay here?’
After his return from Brazil, Merz attended a trade conference in Berlin last Thursday. There, he spoke quite candidly about his short trip to Belem.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we live in one of the most beautiful countries in the world. Last week, I asked some journalists who were with me in Brazil: ‘Who among you would like to stay here?’ No one raised their hand. Everyone was delighted to be back in Germany and to have left that place,” Merz said.
Brazil slows deforestation, boosts oil production
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Some observers in Germany believe that with this comparison, he meant to suggest that Germany has first-world problems which pale in comparison to the world’s poorest places.
At the event, Merz spoke about the numerous challenges facing German society: the increasingly unaffordable pension system, the crumbling infrastructure and the polarization of society. He then connected this to his brief impression of Belem, which is among the poorest places in Brazil.
In Brazil, his words were received quite differently.
Igor Normando, the mayor of Belem, said the German chancellor demonstrated “arrogance and prejudice.” His statement, Normando argued, did not match the observations of other attendees from Germany, which had been very favorable and full of admiration.
The Brazilian news portal Diario do Centro do Mundo wrote of an “outrageous comparison.” Apparently, the author suggested, the German Chancellor does not consider Brazil to be a good place to live.
Low-key response in Germany
While the Chancellor’s remarks caused a stir in Brazil, the reaction in Germany has been rather muted. Few news outlets reported on Merz’s comments.
Those which did so pointed out that Merz had made headlines in Germany just a few weeks earlier with a similarly flippant remark. Back then, Merz said his government’s new tough immigration policy was having a positive effect, although there was still much to be done, adding “as is evident in the Stadtbild [cityscape].” This was seen as a blanket attack on all immigrantsin the country, and the debate over precisely whom or what Merz might have meant dominated the headlines for days.
A government spokesperson sought to downplay the chancellor’s latest remarks and give a more positive context. Merz had been able to hold a “productive and forward-looking” discussion with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the spokesperson replied to a DW inquiry, adding: “The Chancellor regrets that, due to time constraints, he did not have the opportunity to travel to the Amazon and experience the region’s breathtaking natural beauty firsthand.”
The brief statement concludes with the assurance: “The Chancellor has great respect for the achievement of organizing such a large international conference in Belem.”
Merz at COP30: ‘Let us seize this opportunity’
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Meanwhile, Germany’s representative at the UN Climate Change Conference in Brazil, Environment Minister Carsten Schneider from the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD) struck a different tone: “Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to get a first impression of Belem, this magnificent city, and its surroundings,” Schneider said. “I saw an enormous amount of commitment, wonderful people, but also a great deal of poverty.”
Meanwhile, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva gave a humorous response to the German Chancellor’s remarks.
Merz should just have gone to a bar in Belem, danced there and tried the local cuisine, he suggested, “because then he would have realized that Berlin doesn’t even provide him with 10% of the quality of life that the state of Para and the city of Belem offer,” Lula remarked laconically.
This article was originally published in German.
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