Never has a harmless speech been so celebrated in Itamaraty.
At other times, the thoughtful words of the new Chancellor, Carlos Alberto França, would be taken as diplomatic obviousness. Right now, as diplomats recover from some sort of post-traumatic stress disorder after more than two years of ideological overflows, France’s speech on the Plateau was a balm.
Many still have the inauguration speech of their predecessor, Ernesto Araújo, fresh in their memories.
When he took office on January 2, 2019, the former chancellor spoke for 32 minutes in front of a stunned audience. He sang Ave Maria in Tupi Guarani, he mentioned Renato Russo, Marcel Proust and Tarcísio Meira, the New York Times critics, the criticisms against the “waterless basin” of globalism, NGOs and socialism, and praise for Olavo de Carvalho, “the great person responsible for the immense transformation that Brazil is going through”.
“President Bolsonaro liberates Brazil, through the truth. We will also liberate Brazilian foreign policy, we will liberate Itamaraty, as President Bolsonaro promised to do in his victory speech, ”Ernesto said.
The process of “liberation” of Brazil and Itamaraty led the country to oppose the three major world powers – China, the United States (under Biden) and the European Union.
And the liberated Brazil, in reality, has become an outcast – which Ernesto celebrated in October of last year. “This outcast here, this Brazil, this policy of the Brazilian people, has achieved results. Perhaps it is better to be this outcast left out, left out, than to be invited to the banquet in selfish cynicism. globalists, the corrupt and the semi-corrupt. “
In this context, nothing like a diplomat without great rhetorical impulses and with less ethereal objectives.
In his brief speech to Planalto, there was no mention of globalism, communism, communavirus or drug addiction, frequent targets of the predecessor.
Instead, the new chancellor presented himself as an anti-Ernesto, betting on diplomacy for results. He spoke of climate change, something unthinkable for the former chancellor, skeptical of global warming. In 2019, Ernesto even told diplomats he didn’t believe in global warming. He said he traveled to Rome in May in the midst of a cold snap – which would prove that climate change theories are wrong. One of the main obstacles to the conclusion of the EU-Mercosur agreement is the Bolonarist environmental policy.
France stressed the need for diplomatic mobilization to obtain vaccines and drugs against Covid-19. Another contrast: Ernesto involved the World Trade Organization, considered a “globalist” entity, and neglected vaccine diplomacy.
In November last year, he called an extraordinary meeting with the Indian Chancellor, to discuss the new geopolitics after the pandemic, and did not raise the subject of vaccinations. Ernesto said nothing about the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine made by the Serum Institute in India, or the vaccine made by Bharat Biotech in the country. He confined himself to telling his counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, that the subject of vaccinations was too politicized and criticized “a governor” (São Paulo, João Doria) for having bought the “vaccine from the Chinese” and for wanting to force everything. the world to be vaccinated.
Scared, France stressed that it will be more tactful in its relations with Congress. After being crushed during a Senate hearing, Ernesto accused Senator Katia Abreu of lobbying for the Chinese in 5G. He ended up being defenestrated and became a scapegoat for the lack of vaccination in the country.
France, on the other hand, offered to travel to Tocantins State to meet with the senator, in a gesture of deference.
Monday (5), in the Roda Viva program, the senator had declared that the new chancellor had no room for error.
His big challenge is to make this rescue take off from the normality of foreign policy, without blaming the boss. First, France must convince Bolsonaro that yes, he is in charge of foreign policy. Other ministers have already lost their minds by demonstrating their own ideas.
For this reason, the chancellor made several greetings to Bolsonaro in his speech, stressing his hierarchical subordination to the president. “As President Bolsonaro teaches, Brazilians want vaccines and want jobs” and “President Bolsonaro asked me to face them [as urgências]”Were some of the phrases he used.
MP Eduardo Bolsonaro and international adviser to the presidency, Filipe Martins, will continue as a “shadow cabinet” in Itamaraty. The two Olavists harbor a deep distrust of China and globalism and preach alignment with a certain alliance of Western Christian countries, including Hungary and Poland, and with Israel.
Both are Bolsonaro’s “Ipiranga post” in international relations. It will be difficult for France to reconcile the new moderation of foreign policy with the olavist doctrine adopted by the president.