Germany likely to join France in environmental pressure on Brazil – newspaper

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Maybe Emmanuel Macron’s France is no longer alone. With the inauguration of its left-wing chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday, 8, Germany will be governed by a coalition of Social Democrats (left), Greens (left), and Liberals (center).

The new government tends to be more aligned with the French in the accusations against the government of Jair Bolsonaro because of the differing assessments regarding the Amazon rainforest.

When heard privately by Brazil’s Estadão newspaper, ambassadors from Brazil and Germany say that the situation tends to “get worse”, claims Estadão. The COP-26, in Glasgow, Scotland, aggravated the problem.

The Brazilian delegation, headed by the Minister of the Environment, Joaquim Leite, failed to present more recent data on deforestation in the Amazon, which set a record of 13,000 km² devastated, but asserted that the scenario was favorable. Brazilian diplomats recognized that credibility was damaged and many Europeans felt deceived.

To Estadão, the German ambassador in Brasilia, Heiko Thoms, allegedly said that the commitments announced by Brazil at the COP-26 were just words; he expressed disbelief in the government’s ability to meet the goal of zero illegal deforestation by 2028. He denied the possibility of Germany resuming contributions to the Amazon Fund.

“It’s hard to see how Brazil is going to reduce deforestation next year by 15% because it has no staff, no funding, and not much time. We cannot reopen the (Amazon) Fund without the conviction that Brazil will reduce deforestation even more,” he said.

Thoms and his team are also concerned about human rights, threats to press freedom and democratic institutions, and the dismantling of Brazilian environmental agencies. For them, Bolsonaro has not realized that the climate plan has become a priority.

Two ambassadors connected to the Brazilian Foreign Ministry criticized Thoms’ position. A diplomat linked to the economic area said that the German ambassador put on the shirt of his country’s new government to “show service”, leaving in second place the long-term relations that guide the two diplomacies. The harsher tone of the German diplomat lit a yellow sign in Itamaraty (Brazil’s foreign ministry).

Another Brazilian official responsible for the environmental plan said that Thoms’ criticism was an inappropriate attitude diplomatically, that he should opt for formal channels. “Imagine if our ambassador in Berlin (Roberto Jaguaribe) commented on their domestic affairs?” he protested.

GREEN ADVANCE

Despite the complaints, Thoms has backing from his government. Germany’s new Foreign Minister will be 40-year-old lawyer Annalena Baerbock, a former chancellor candidate and one of the leaders of the Green Party.

She is an environmental activist, a former athlete, a critic of the Brazilian president, and in favor of global pressure movements on the Amazon that could affect trade. Another environmentalist, Robert Habeck, will head the new Climate and Economy ministry.

France, another pillar of the EU, will hold elections in April next year. The Greens there have also assumed greater political prominence in recent years, attracting votes from the declining Socialist Party. In early 2022, the French will take over the rotating presidency of the EU Council, which could push the trade agreement with Mercosur even further away.

The information is from the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo.

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