‘That place’: Germany’s Merz offends Brazil with comments about COP30 city
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German Chancellor Friedrich Merz attended a leaders' summit for the COP30 climate talks in the hot and humid Amazonian city of Belem, Brazil.
PHOTO: AFP
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- German Chancellor Friedrich Merz criticised Belem, the COP30 host city, sparking anger in Brazil. He implied it was undesirable, contrasting it to Germany.
- Local officials and Brazilians condemned Merz's "prejudiced" and "xenophobic" comments, noting the irony of a climate summit host city being criticised.
- Following the backlash, Merz's spokesperson expressed regret, praising Belem's organisation of COP30 and the Amazon's beauty, while another German minister praised Brazilian hospitality.
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BELEM, Brazil - German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has rubbed Brazilians the wrong way with disparaging comments about the COP30 host city
The hot and humid Amazonian city, with limited infrastructure, is hosting tens of thousands of participants from around the world for the UN climate talks.
Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had brushed off concerns about the location and highlighted the need to put the world’s largest tropical rainforest at the centre of the talks.
However, the conservative Mr Merz, returning from a leaders’ summit, appeared less than impressed.
“We live in one of the most beautiful countries in the world. I asked journalists who accompanied me to Brazil last week: ‘Who among you would want to stay here?’ No one raised their hand,” Mr Merz said in Berlin.
“Everyone was delighted to be back in Germany and to have left that place.”
His comments angered local authorities and some Brazilians on social media jokingly compared it to Germany’s infamous humiliation of Brazil at the 2014 World Cup – when the national team lost by seven goals to one.
Mr Helder Barbalho, the governor of the state of Para, where Belem is located, slammed “the prejudiced” comments on the X social network.
“It’s curious to see that those who have contributed to global warming are surprised by the heat in the Amazon,” he said.
“Unfortunately, the German chancellor delivered a speech full of arrogance and prejudice, unlike his people, who are showing their fascination for our city in the streets of Belem,” city Mayor Igor Normando said on X.
On the UOL news site, a column by journalist Jamil Chade, published on Nov 18, was titled: “Merz, your xenophobia is the new Berlin Wall.”
On a Brazil forum on Reddit, one user who said he was from Para state, said Mr Merz’s comments still didn’t hurt as much as the now-mythic football match.
Following the controversy, a spokesperson for Mr Merz sent a statement to AFP saying that “the Chancellor expressed his regret that time constraints prevented him from better experiencing the impressive natural beauty of the Amazon region.”
He also conveyed his “great respect for the achievement of having been able to organise such an important international conference in Belem.”
On Nov 17, in a speech during a plenary session of COP30, German Environment Minister Carsten Schneider struck a different tone, praising the “wonderful people of Brazil” who “captivated him with their warm hospitality”. AFP
