Protesters in Berlin Call Brazil’s Environment Minister Salles “Climate Criminal”

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Environment Minister Ricardo Salles was the target of a protest in Berlin on Monday, September 30th.

Dozens of activists from the German arm of Greenpeace organized a demonstration in front of the headquarters of the German Confederation of Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK), in the center of the German capital, against the visit of the Brazilian minister.

Some 50 demonstrators holding Brazilian and German flags set up an isolation cordon in front of the building in order to prevent Salles from entering the building.

They also extended a banner on the front with the slogan “No agreements with climate criminals,” in reference to the agreement between Mercosur and the European Union (EU), and displayed the trunk of a burning tree. On the log, it was written: “Do not destroy the Amazon”. The activists even anchored a boat on the Spree River, which crosses beside the confederation’s headquarters.

“Climate change is a global issue. Bolsonaro’s climate agenda has been in favor of the agribusiness lobby, but the destruction of the Amazon is something that endangers everyone on the planet,” said Greenpeace representative Jannes Stoppel.

Initially, an agenda from Salles – which was leaked last week by Greenpeace – showed that the minister would meet with representatives of major German industries, including the giants of the chemical sector Basf and Bayer, known for their agrochemical production.

However, Salles did not attend any meeting there on Monday. Although the leaked agenda signaled a meeting, nothing had been officially agreed with the minister, according to representatives of DIHK.

Last week, Salles started a tour in the United States, France, and Germany to try to reverse the meltdown of Brazil’s image and the government of President Jair Bolsonaro abroad due to the negative repercussions of fires and the increase in deforestation in the Amazon.

However, the Environment Ministry has refrained from disclosing the minister’s schedule in advance. Salles arrived in Berlin on Sunday, but his agenda on the portfolio’s website does not include any commitment in the capital for the next three days. The minister should leave Germany on Wednesday and head to the United Kingdom.

Although his public agenda seems empty, Salles is expected to meet on Tuesday afternoon with Svenja Schulze, Germany’s Minister for the Environment, Nature Protection and Nuclear Safety. The meeting has been confirmed by the German portfolio.

In August, Schulze ordered the suspension of transfers from his portfolio in the amount of R$155 (US$38.7) million for preservation projects in Brazil in reaction to Bolsonaro’s actions in the environmental area.

At the time, the transfer suspension triggered an aggressive reaction from the Brazilian president, who declared: “It [ Germany ] will no longer buy the Amazon, it will stop buying the Amazon in installments. It can make good use of this money. Brazil doesn’t need it”.

Faced with Bolsonaro’s reaction, Schulze retorted: “This shows that we are doing exactly the right thing”.

A meeting between Salles and Minister Gerd Müller, of the German Cooperation and Development Department, is still planned.

The Brazilian government has also been fighting a tug of war with this ministry, this time related to the future of the Amazon Fund, the billion-dollar program to protect the forest that relies on resources from Norway and Germany.

In the first half of the year, Salles promoted a number of unilateral changes in the program’s governance, including the extinction of two committees, which thwarted the Germans and the Norwegians.

The two European countries also took a stand against a proposal by the Brazilian minister to use the fund’s resources to compensate farmers who are occupying environmental protection areas, and publicly rejected Salles’ insinuations of alleged fraud in the program’s administration.

Salles has also scheduled meetings in Berlin with the German press, including the conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Last week, in his French stage of the international tour, the minister refrained from speaking to the Brazilian press, choosing to give an interview to the French conservative daily Le Figaro.

At the time, he was also the subject of a protest in Paris, and his agenda did not include any meeting with French authorities.