Macron backs Lula’s bid to hold a COP at Amazon: “We need it”

French President Emmanuel Macron this Thursday (17) supported Brazilian President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s proposal to hold the 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP) in the Amazon.

“I would really like to do a COP on Amazon, so I fully support Lula’s initiative,” said Macron, who was in Bangkok for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.

“I support Brazil’s return to an Amazon strategy. We need it,” he added.

“France is an Indo-Pacific power and an Amazon power. The largest external border of France and Europe is our border with Brazil and Guyana,” Macron said.

Lula: an opportunity for the world to get to know the Amazon. During COP27, currently held in Egypt, Lula expressed his desire this Wednesday for COP30 to be held by a state in the Amazon, an important ecosystem for the stability of the global climate.

“In line with the commitments agreed in Paris and guided by the quest to decarbonize the global economy, we will be increasingly assertive in the face of the challenge of tackling climate change,” Lula said. the world to recognize this biome that your government promises to protect.

In his nearly half-hour speech, the incoming president reiterated his promise to international audiences to put the fight against the climate crisis first on the agenda. The highlighted message is that Brazil is “back” and the international isolation caused by Jair Bolsonaro is over.

Brazil should have hosted COP25 in 2019, but the then newly elected and transitional Bolsonaro government withdrew the bid, citing budget constraints.

The rapprochement of Brazil and France

Lula’s election victory last month paved the way for rapprochement between Paris and Brasilia after strained relations under Bolsonaro.

A fierce debate strained relations between Bolsonaro and Macron in 2019 amid wildfires in the Amazon, where deforestation increased sharply under Bolsonaro. The far-right Brazilian president even criticized the French president’s wife, Brigitte Macron, for her physical appearance, amid exchanges.

In a phone call with Lula after the second round, Macron stated that the election of the PT was “excellent news” for France. “I must say I look forward to this moment so that we can reactivate a strategic cooperation that fits our history and the challenges ahead,” said Macron, one of the first foreign leaders to congratulate the PT. Victory.

Exactly one year ago, Lula was received by Macron in Paris with the honor of the head of state.

French Foreign Minister for European Affairs Laurence Boone said this Tuesday that Paris views Brazil as “an important partner in Latin America”.