"Happy to stay here" How Merz infuriates an entire country with one remark

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has caused diplomatic damage with a remark about the COP30 host city of Belém. Brazil's President Lula counters with ridicule. Environment Minister Carsten Schneider tries to save what can be saved in Belém.

The starting point of the scandal is an appearance by Friedrich Merz after his brief visit to the COP30 climate conference in Belém. At a trade conference in Berlin, the Chancellor said that he had asked the journalists traveling with him which of them "would like to stay here". No one responded, they were all happy to return to Germany.

The point that Merz drew from this was that people in Germany live in "one of the most beautiful countries in the world". What was intended as praise for his own country sounded in Brazil like a devaluation of the host city of the climate conference - a poor metropolis of millions that lies in the middle of the Amazon region and for many Brazilians is symbolic of the fight for the rainforest.

Merz's words quickly made waves in Brazil. The media and politicians accused the German chancellor of bias and arrogance, and there was talk of a colonial gaze on social networks. Individual local politicians overshot the mark and used historical comparisons and insults against Merz, which in turn caused head-shaking in Germany.

The decisive factor was that Belém is a prestige project for the Brazilian government. The COP30 in the middle of the Amazon region is intended to show that the country is taking climate policy seriously - and at the same time attract investors and heads of state to the north of Brazil, which has long been regarded as being left behind and characterized by the exploitation of raw materials. Anyone who publicly disparages this city quickly hits national sensitivities and the political staging of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Lula used the ball that Merz had passed him to make his own appearance. If the Chancellor had visited a bar in Belém, dined and danced there, he would have realized "that Berlin doesn't even offer him ten percent of the quality that the state of Pará and the city of Belém offer," Lula mocked.

The undertone was clear: Lula is turning the narrative around - it is not Brazil that seems devalued, but Germany. And the joke works in terms of domestic politics: the president is staging himself as the defender of a proud, lively Amazon metropolis against a European head of government who perceived Belém primarily as arduous and poor.

At the same time, Lula was sending a signal to other countries in the global South: anyone coming to Brazil should not just stand in the conference center, but also take the reality on the ground seriously - from the heat to the social contradictions in Belém.

While Merz declares back in Berlin that he sees the relationship with Brazil as "completely unencumbered", Federal Environment Minister Carsten Schneider has to speak directly to Lula in Belém. According to AFP, Schneider personally conveyed the Chancellor's greetings to the President - along with a request not to take the issue any further.

Schneider demonstratively stood in front of the host city. There was "no substance" for criticism of Belém, he said. Belém was "the best venue imaginable for a conference on global climate", as the city bordered directly on the Amazon rainforest, was lively and had "a soul".

"Outrageous comparison"Merz insults Brazilians - and pretends nothing happened

At the same time, Schneider assured that Lula and Merz would speak in person at the G20 summit in Johannesburg at the weekend - and that Lula had promised to come to Germany next year for the Hannover Messe. It is an attempt to show, beyond concrete meetings and projects, that Brazil and Germany need each other strategically, regardless of the Chancellor's failed statement.

Meanwhile in Berlin, Merz is trying to play down the excitement. He had simply said that Germany was "one of the most beautiful countries in the world", he explained at a press conference with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. President Lula would "probably accept that". In his view, there was no need for an apology; German-Brazilian relations had not been damaged by the affair either.

Government spokesman Stefan Kornelius seconds and rejects the interpretation that the Chancellor made disgusted remarks about Belém. Merz had merely made a "small hierarchy" of the most beautiful countries - Germany at the top, but Brazil also high up.

The fact that this was nevertheless received differently in Brazil shows how thin the line is between domestic pathos and statements perceived as arrogance in foreign policy.

In addition, Merz is under scrutiny domestically: commentators speak of a "babbling chancellor" who repeatedly attracts attention with thoughtless formulations, while SPD leader Lars Klingbeil recently called for "more sensitive men in politics". The fact that Klingbeil also describes his relationship with the chancellor as "very good" does little to change the fact that Merz's choice of words has once again become a problem - and is not only being debated in Germany.