According to Olaf Schölzthe German chancellor, “Latin America has incredible potential.” Those were his words when referring to the objectives of his visit to the region as early as 2013, when he was still mayor of Hamburg, before a trip to South America. Latin America is Praised for decades as an equal partner by Germany, with whom it shares the same values and interests, but what’s really new now, ahead of Olaf Scholz’s trip to South America as chancellor?
To Gunter Maihold, deputy director of the Berlin Science and Politics Foundation, the outlook is not too positive. “The common base is crumbling,” he writes in an analysis of relations between Latin America and the European Union. Both the policies of Berlin and that of Brussels have led to serious fractures in Latin America in recent years, he points out. With his refusal to send vaccines against the coronavirus, and agitation, at the same time, against Chinese vaccines, the EU has not exactly endeared itself in the region, and its policy of sanctions against Russia is also rejected in the subcontinent. , one should “not have too many illusions” about strong support for the German position on Ukraine, says Maihold.
The German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, when he was not yet Brazil’s president again, in Berlin.
china is here to stay
According to the latest poll by the renowned Latinobarómetro opinion research institute, power relations in the region have shifted in recent years. In human rights, environmental protection and democracy promotion, Germany and the EU are still seen as partners, but when it comes to science and technology, China leads the way.
Germany’s share of Brazilian imports has nearly halved, to 5.1 percent, in the last 20 years. “China is interesting for Latin America, because it does not set great conditions. Not all projects value democracy, the rule of law, environmental protection and the corresponding investigations. And, in case of doubt, China also comes with its own workers and implements strategic infrastructure projects,” says Maihold.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz received Argentine President Alberto Fernández in May 2011.
Green hydrogen from Chile, lithium from Argentina
For Brazil, Argentina and Chile, Germany resembles an old schoolmate, who occasionally knocks on the door to toast the good old days, but then quickly disappears. But, on this trip, according to the analyst, Scholz’s task is to make clear the difference with China, which is only interested in the rapid export of raw materials.
“With lithium, for example, it is expected that if it is not produced in the respective producing country, it is at least offered on a regional scale with the development of regional value chains from Germany.” Talks with Chilean President Gabriel Boric will also address the status of the “Hydrogen Task Force,” which both countries founded in 2021 as part of the Chilean-German Energy Association. In theory, Chile could cover three to four times the Estimated import requirement for green hydrogen in Germany in 2050.
And Scholz also wants to talk about raw materials with the Argentine president, Alberto Fernández, more precisely about the “white gold” of the energy sector: lithium. The German automaker BMW has been extracting it for two years from the Salar del Hombre Muerto, in Catamarca, Argentina.
Boost to Mercosur
In addition, the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, wants to collaborate with Germany, above all, regarding climate change. Lula announced that he will stop indiscriminate logging in the Amazon. “Former President Bolsonaro had dissolved the steering committees that had been created for the Amazon Fund at that time,” Brazil expert Katharina Fietz of the GIGA Institute in Hamburg tells DW. The visit of German Chancellor Scholz also reinforces the image of Brazil in its return to the international scene, after the turbulent years of the Bolsonaro government.
One of the main issues that will be discussed with other European heads of government, in addition to the German chancellor, will be the free trade agreement between the EU and the Mercosur countries. Despite the resistance of lobby Brazilian agrarian, “Brazil has a strong interest in closing the agreement”, says Katharina Fietz. This will gain new impetus with the pro tempore presidency of Spain in the European Council, in the second half of this year, concludes the expert.
Meeting with President Boric
The German Chancellor plans to arrive on national soil this Sunday, January 29, and has already scheduled a meeting with the President gabriel boric. Government representatives and national businessmen are expected to also meet with members of the German entourage.
In addition, the head of the German government is expected to attend an activity with the President at the Museum of Memory and Human Rights, located in the commune of Santiago. In the instance, both are expected to talk about Colonia Dignidad, a theme that Germany seeks to “advance and do justice to its complexity.”
Remember that Colonia Dignidad (today Vila Baviera) is a German enclave located about 380 kilometers south of Santiago and was founded in 1961 by a group of Germans recruited by the Nazi non-commissioned officer Paul Schaefer.
Multiple violations of Human Rights were reported in the place, since it operated as a clandestine detention center between 1973 and 1974, during the civic-military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.
The last visit of the highest authority in Germany took place in 2013 when the former chancellor Angela Merkel, visited the summit of CELAC and the European Union, as a state visit. At that time, she was received by the former president, sebastian pinera.
