The voices of experts, journalists and activists – German Chancellor Wellen made waves (Part 2)
4. Reuters, AFP, TRT, EuroNews and Deutsche Welle of the German Chancellor Waves rose high.
Friedrich Merz stands at a lectern in Berlin, speaking to a room full of business representatives – and makes a joke at Belém's expense.1 AFP – Merz angers Brazilians with comments about Belém 🌐 https://youtu.be/agnJfFNSYJ4 „Who among you would like to stay here?“ he asked the journalists at COP30. No one raised their hand; everyone was happy to return to Germany „from this place“.2 Euronews – German Chancellor Merz criticises Belém, causing concern among Brazilians 🌐 https://www.euronews.com/2025/11/19/should-have-gone-to-a-pub-merz-blasts-belem-rattling-brazilians In Germany, this is considered an „unfortunate remark“. In Brazil, it strikes a collective nerve.
When a chancellor mocks „this place“
The scene, which AFP, DW, Euronews and countless short films show over and over again, is brief – but it tells a lot.3 AFP – Merz angers Brazilians with comments about Belém 🌐 https://youtu.be/agnJfFNSYJ4 4 DW – Merz sparks outrage over Belém comments 🌐https://www.dw.com/en/merz-sparks-outrage-over-belem-comments/video-74813808 A white, conservative head of government from a wealthy industrialised country mocks a city in the Global South that is currently hosting 50,000 people at the World Climate Conference – in the middle of a region where the climate crisis has long been a daily reality.5 Ecologic Institute – The COP30 Climate Conference in Belém 🌐 https://www.ecologic.eu/20238
Merz frames his anecdote with the statement that Germany is „one of the most beautiful countries in the world,“ only to then implicitly declare Belém to be the opposite.6 Euronews – German Chancellor Merz criticises Belém, causing concern among Brazilians 🌐https://www.euronews.com/2025/11/19/should-have-gone-to-a-pub-merz-blasts-belem-rattling-brazilians What is intended as a jovial punchline comes across in Brazil as a slap in the face. The international reels accompany it with sad music, flash images of skyscrapers in Berlin and wooden houses on the Amazon, and let memes speak for themselves, in which Merz becomes the epitome of the arrogant North. And suddenly you realise: these few seconds say something not only about his capacity for empathy, but also about the structures we are all caught up in.
Brazil responds: „Go dancing, Friedrich“
The political response from Brazil is remarkably swift and astonishingly clear. Speaking at an event in the north of the country, President Lula da Silva says that Merz should perhaps have simply gone to a bar, eaten and danced – then he would have realised that Berlin offers him „not even ten per cent“ of the quality of life that Pará and Belém have to offer. 9 AP News – Germany's Merz under fire in Brazil for his comments on Amazon host city of COP30 🌐 https://apnews.com/article/brazil-germany-merz-climate-comment-ee023c194006b4d2eea0a7ffb514d393 10 France24 / RFI – Lula says Germany’s Merz should have ‘gone dancing’ in Belém 🌐 https://www.rfi.fr/en/international-news/20251118-that-place-merz-offends-brazil-with-comments-about-cop30-city The phrase goes viral: „He should have gone dancing.“
Belém Mayor Igor Normando calls Merz's words ’arrogant and full of prejudice„ and emphasises that other German guests found the city to be warm and lively.11 DW – What did Germany's Chancellor say to make Brazil so upset? 🌐 https://www.dw.com/en/germany-chancellor-friedrich-merz-brazil-belem-comments/a-74803781 The Governor of Pará accuses him of being surprised by the heat in the Amazon, coming from a country that has contributed massively to global warming. – and that this speech reveals more about the speaker than about Belém.12 TRT World – Brazil boils over at Merz's ‘that place’ remark belittling COP30 host 🌐 https://www.trtworld.com/article/ca61e17d38ba
Brazilian columnists openly speak of „xenophobia“ (hostility towards foreigners) and „white arrogance“.13 TRT World – Brazil boils over at Merz's ‘that place’ remark belittling COP30 host 🌐 https://www.trtworld.com/article/ca61e17d38ba In comments on DW, ABC and Euronews, users are demanding that Merz apologise or stay away in future.14 Euronews – German Chancellor Merz criticises Belém, causing concern among Brazilians 🌐 https://www.euronews.com/2025/11/19/should-have-gone-to-a-pub-merz-blasts-belem-rattling-brazilians 15 Yahoo News – German Chancellor Merz criticises Belém, causing concern among Brazilians 🌐 https://ca.news.yahoo.com/gone-pub-merz-blasts-bel-103040301.html No one is simply laughing at an ill-timed joke here – a country is making it very clear that it no longer wants to serve as a backdrop for the North's self-promotion.
Belém is no joke, but a front line
To understand why this outrage is so intense, you need to take a closer look at Belém. The city lies on the banks of the Rio Guamá, on the edge of the Amazon basin, in a state where deforestation, land conflicts, extreme heat and poverty reinforce each other.16 Reuters – COP30 host city Belém, Brazil, tries to stoke economy while preserving Amazon 🌐 https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/cop/cop30-host-city-belem-brazil-tries-stoke-economy-while-preserving-amazon-2025-11-21/ 17 KfW – COP30 in Belém: Where the forest becomes the world stage 🌐 https://www.kfw.de/stories/environment/climate-action/klimaschutz-brasilien/ Belém is struggling with inadequate sewage disposal, outdated infrastructure and massive social inequalities – and at the same time with temperatures that, according to scenarios, could remain at levels that are hazardous to health for months on end by 2050.18 Ecologic Institute – The COP30 Climate Conference in Belém 🌐 https://www.ecologic.eu/20238
At the same time, the state of Pará is attempting to establish an alternative model to the traditional exploitative economy: with bioeconomy parks and cooperatives for açaí, nuts and coffee, which can pay wages three to seven times higher than those in soy cultivation or cattle grazing.19 Reuters – COP30 host city Belém, Brazil, tries to stoke economy while preserving Amazon 🌐 https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/cop/cop30-host-city-belem-brazil-tries-stoke-economy-while-preserving-amazon-2025-11-21/ Belém is thus a laboratory for testing whether rainforests can really be economically secured as „standing forests“ – and no longer merely as a source of raw materials for the global North. The fact that this city, of all places, has been downgraded by a German head of government to a „place you want to leave quickly“ strikes at the heart of this political project.
Climate justice meets white gaze
What looks like a shitstorm on international reels is essentially a debate about climate justice. Okay, it was a shitstorm. Nevertheless, Germany is historically one of the world's largest emitters, has become highly industrialised over decades thanks to cheap coal, oil and gas, and still significantly exceeds the global average in terms of per capita greenhouse gas emissions. 20 Federal Environment Agency – Greenhouse gas emissions in Germany 🌐 https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/daten/klima/treibhausgas-emissionen-in-deutschland 21 Federal Environment Agency – Germany's greenhouse gas reduction targets 🌐 https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/daten/klima/treibhausgasminderungsziele-deutschlands Brazil, on the other hand, contributes to the crisis through deforestation and fossil fuel use, but its per capita consumption is significantly lower – and at the same time it is massively affected by the consequences.22 IPCC – AR6 WGII: Climate Change 2022 – Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability (Latin America chapter) 🌐 https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/
When a chancellor from Berlin says something along the lines of, „It was nice to be there for a short while, but no one wants to live there,“ that is not neutral. And it is not okay. It says: Our reality, our climate, our cities are the benchmark. Your heat, your poverty, your floods, your fight to protect the forests are exotic, political background, at most a place for a few nice selfies – but please nothing where anyone would seriously want to stay. That is precisely why Brazilian commentators speak of racism, xenophobia and a „new Berlin Wall“ in people's minds.23 TRT World – Brazil boils over at Merz's ‘that place’ remark belittling COP30 host 🌐 https://www.trtworld.com/article/ca61e17d38ba
Merz's statement sums up what global climate policy is all too often – a setting in which the global North makes demands, promises funds, sets up funds, but never quite gets to where the front lines of this crisis lie, emotionally and politically.
The German response: play it down and move on
While Brazilian media and international broadcasters have been covering the topic for days, the excitement in Germany remains manageable.25 DW – What did Germany's Chancellor say to make Brazil so upset? 🌐 https://www.dw.com/en/germany-chancellor-friedrich-merz-brazil-belem-comments/a-74803781 A few editorials criticise the faux pas, some comment that Merz is unprofessional, but a broad debate about colonial perspectives, respect and climate justice? Not a chance.
The Chancellor's Office has stated that Merz was simply referring to the „efforts of the trip,“ not to Brazil or Belém as such.26 Reuters – German Chancellor Merz just wanted home, Berlin says after Brazil remark irks 🌐 https://www.reuters.com/world/german-chancellor-merz-just-wanted-home-berlin-says-after-brazil-remark-irks-2025-11-19/ No genuine apology is forthcoming, even though Lula, the mayor of Belém and the governor of Pará publicly criticise the chancellor. At a later meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit, both sides emphasise that they have „reached an understanding“ again – Merz announces that he wants to dance and try the local cuisine on his next visit to Belém. 27 DW – Germany’s Merz, Brazil’s Lula reconcile after Belém comments 🌐 https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-merz-brazils-lula-reconcile-after-belem-comments/a-74850206
It seems like an attempt to gloss over the issue with a bit of humour. But the clips remain, the international articles remain, and the memory remains of how quickly a German head of government is prepared to ridicule a central venue for global climate policy. And they remain above all in Brazil.
Private jets, climate summits and the great double standard
Merz's Belém statement does not exist in a vacuum. Even before COP30, he had attracted criticism for travelling to Brazil in a private jet – while publicly calling for more ’realism„ in climate policy and framing climate protection measures in Germany as “overburdening„ citizens.28 Euronews – COP30: ‘Action not words’ – criticism of private jet owner Merz 🌐 https://de.euronews.com/video/2025/11/07/cop30-taten-statt-worte-kritik-an-privatflugzeug-besitzer-merz
The fact that he then doesn't stay in Belém for 24 hours, quickly jets back to Berlin and tells a room full of business officials how happy everyone was to be back „from this place“ is symbolic politics in the worst sense. It fits perfectly with a climate policy that needs international forums to present itself as green – but is hardly willing to truly share responsibility or relinquish power.29 UNEP – Emissions Gap Report 2025 🌐 https://www.unep.org/resources/emissions-gap-report 30 Federal Environment Agency – UN Climate Conference COP30: No breakthrough, but small steps 🌐 https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/en/topics/un-climate-conference-cop30-no-breakthrough-but
At the same time, Germany is an important source of funding: for the Amazon Fund, for new forest protection financing, and for climate and adaptation programmes. 31 Reuters – COP30 host city Belem, Brazil, tries to stoke economy while preserving Amazon rainforest 🌐 https://reut.rs/47RluIG That is precisely why the dissonance is so loud: on the one hand, there are transfers, declarations of intent and promises of funds. On the other hand, there are contemptuous words about the places that are supposed to be involved.
What all this has to do with us
Perhaps the most uncomfortable aspect of this story is that it holds up a mirror to us, the German public. We are used to viewing global climate conferences as places where „we“ show responsibility, restructure „our“ industry and defend „our“ climate targets. We talk about German driving bans, heating laws, motorways – and often forget that the real scene of this crisis lies elsewhere.
Belém reminds us that climate policy is always also global justice policy. That every tonne of CO₂ from our coal-fired power stations, cars and aeroplanes increases the risk of droughts, floods and crop failures somewhere else. 32 IPCC – AR6 Synthesis Report, Summary for Policymakers 🌐 https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/syr/ And that it is not enough to send money if we simultaneously disparage the people and places we claim to support.
For many Brazilians, this episode is not just a storm in a teacup. It symbolises a deeper mistrust of climate policy, which talks about „partnership on equal terms“ but in practice often sounds like Merz on this Berlin podium.
