• Print
• E-Mail
• Feedback

03/10/2010

 

Trips to South America aren't always easy. One of the first Germans to travel to the continent barely escaped ending up in a soup pot. In 1550, Hans Staden, a mercenary from the Hessian town of Homberg, went to South America at the behest of Portuguese settlers. Not far from where Sao Paulo is today, he fell into the hands of cannibalistic indigenous peoples who wanted to turn him into their next meal. He saved himself by offering the natives his services as a shaman.

This week, 460 years after Staden, a German is visiting the continent once again. Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, hardly an expert on Latin America, is touring Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil this week -- in addition to a short stop in earthquake-shaken Chile -- together with a colorful entourage. He hopes to make the region a focus of his foreign policy.

Westerwelle's approach stems from the insight that Brazil, in particular, is becoming more and more important on the international stage. But, like his predecessors, he is also searching for a foreign policy issue with which to make his mark. Former Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer focused on the Middle East, while his successor, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, specialized in the Caucasus region. Both men sought to gain stature on the foreign stage without interference from the Chancellery.

Westerwelle is drawn to Brazil for the same reason. Chancellor Angela Merkel has monopolized Germany's relations with Russia, China, the United States and Israel. But she has never shown any real interest in South America's largest country.

Merkel's Fleeting Visit

"We have neglected Brazil," a former German diplomat admits. "Germany has given preference to its relations with China and India, while its status in Brazil has declined," says Roberto Abdenur, the Brazilian ambassador in Bonn and later Berlin from 1995 to 2002. Merkel has only traveled to the region once. On her way to the European Union summit with Latin America in Lima two years ago, she spent a day and a half rushing through a country almost 24 times the size of her own. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva would have liked to show her more, members of his staff complained after the fleeting visit.

The personal touch is more important in Latin America than elsewhere, but the cool chancellor isn't one for hugs and pats on the back. Ironically, Lula could be a receptive partner for Merkel. A former labor leader, he has fond memories of Germany from his union days, and he has a warm relationship with former Chancellor Helmut Schmidt.

Former Chancellors Helmut Kohl and Gerhard Schröder also maintained strong ties to Brazil. Under Schröder, Berlin and Brasilia agreed to a "strategic partnership" in 2002, but it remained little more than lip service.

Berlin has taken five months to appoint a new ambassador to Brazil. And negotiations over a free trade agreement between the European Union and the South American economic alliance Mercosur have dragged on for more than a decade. Berlin and Brasilia have not even managed to renew the double taxation treaty between the two countries, which expired more than four years ago.

Arrogance Partly to Blame

Economically speaking, Germany has fallen behind in the region. When Brazil privatized telecommunications in the 1990s, Spanish, Portuguese and Italian companies entered the market, while the Germans were focused on their own problems with telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom. They also missed out on the deregulation of the banking sector, allowing Spanish banks to move into the market. "Germany has only recently recognized Brazil's importance," says Brazilian Industry Minister Miguel Jorge.

Arrogance is partly to blame. In the past, German politicians were quick to hand out advice to the Latinos when it came to budget management and economic policy. Now it turns out that some Latin American countries were better prepared for the financial crisis than member states of the European Union.

Meanwhile, other economic powers are benefiting from the boom in Latin America. In many countries, China has emerged as the most important trading partner. Paris is wooing Bolivian President Evo Morales, hoping to gain access to his country's enormous deposits of lithium, a metal used in the batteries of new electric cars.

Too Late Now

In Brazil, in particular, French President Nicolas Sarkozy is stealing the show from the Germans. The Frenchman met with President Lula four times in 18 months, and now Sarkozy's dedication has paid off. The Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft shipyard was left with nothing when Brazil expanded its submarine fleet, while the French were quick to do business with the Brazilians. Lula also intends to order new military aircraft in Paris.

"We cannot leave Brazil to our European neighbors," Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg warned when he still Germany's economics minister. But it could be too late for that now. The Pacific nations of Chile and Peru are looking to Asia, Argentina is concerned with its own interests, Mexico is in the US's shadow, and Brazil is cultivating alliances with other emerging countries.

So far, there is little in the way of a political concept behind Westerwelle's interest in South America. Plus, only the chancellor could initiate a true upgrading of relations. But Merkel has enough on her plate, as she tries to hold together her governing coalition. Leaving it to Westerwelle to make his mark in South America.