Friedrich Merz compared Brazil with Germany; reported that he asked journalists who would like to stay in the city of COP30 and “no one raised their hand”
The German Federal Chancellor, , compared Brazil to Germany during a speech at , held on Thursday (13.Nov.2025), in Berlin, the German capital. He reported a conversation he had with journalists who accompanied him to Brazil during the COP30 Leaders’ Summit, in Belém, held on November 6th and 7th. According to him, everyone would have been “happy” to return to Germany after the end of the event.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we live in one of the most beautiful countries in the world. I asked some journalists who were with me in Brazil last week: ‘Which of you would like to stay here?’ Nobody raised their hand. Everyone was happy that we returned to Germany on the night of Friday to Saturday, especially from where we were,” he stated.
The statement was made when talking about the importance of defending one’s country. Merz praised the German political and economic environment and asked those present to preserve “sense of proportion and balance” in mutual treatment.
The speech was transcribed by the German federal government and also published by , organized by Handelsverband Deutschland (HDE), the country’s main retail federation, in partnership with the research institute EHI Retail Institute.
During his speech, Merz reinforced the message of valuing the German environment, highlighting its institutional and democratic pillars. “We live in one of the freest countries in the world, and our country, our democracy and our economic order are worth defending”he said. He further added that this is a collective responsibility: “Defend this country, defend our democracy, defend our open society against its internal and external enemies, and also defend our market economy order.”
Environmental negotiations with Brazil
The German Minister for the Environment, (Social Democratic Party, center-left), stated on Saturday (15.Nov.2025) that Germany will publish “in the next few days” the value of your contribution to the (Tropical Forests Forever Fund).
The fund was an initiative launched by the president (PT) to remunerate countries for preserving tropical forests. The German politician’s statement was made in Belém, where Schneider is participating in the final week of the . The information is from
Berlin had already signaled political support for the fund. Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU, center-right) promised last week a “substantial amount” for TFFF.
“I have been talking about this in Berlin over the last few days and I hope we can soon say exactly how much money will be involved,” these tailors. “But you can be sure that if Germany does this, it will be done in the right way.”
Environmental organizations this week called on Germany to match the contribution announced by Norway. Oslo declared its intention to contribute US$3 billion over 10 years.
