Brazil’s ambassador to France weighed in on the spat between the two countries’ leaders on Tuesday, by praising Brigitte Macron’s looks.
Luís Fernando Serra said on French TV that France’s first lady is “very beautiful, very charming, and very elegant, and very smart. That’s my opinion since I have known her.” He then added that he’d only seen her “by picture.”
The two countries have been at loggerheads for days. On Friday, ahead of the G7 in Biarritz, Macron called for the burning Amazon to lead the agenda of the summit, and said that Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro “lied to him” about the Mercosur free-trade agreement between the EU and Latin American countries.
Things then got personal. On Sunday, a Bolsonaro supporter posted a meme mocking the appearance of Brigitte Macron and comparing her unfavourably to Brazil’s first lady, Michelle Bolsonaro, with the tagline: “Now you understand why Macron is persecuting Bolsonaro?”
The far-right Brazilian leader replied: “Do not humiliate the guy, ha ha.”
Bolsonaro has also accused Macron of having a “colonialist mentality.”
Macron struck back in extraordinarily blunt remarks at the G7 on Monday, saying he hoped that Brazil will soon have a new president. “I hope they will very soon have a president who is up to the task,” Macron told reporters. He called the Brazilian’s comments about his wife “extraordinarily rude” and “sad.”
On the same French TV show, Serra also said that his country rejected an offer for a fund from the G7 members to help fight fires in the Amazon.
“We refuse because we see interference. [It’s] help we didn’t ask for,” he said. “The G7 help was decided without Brazil.”
Onyx Lorenzoni, chief of staff to Bolsonaro, told Globo news website Monday evening that “Macron cannot even avoid a predictable fire in a church that is part of the world’s heritage, and he wants to give us lessons for our country?” He was referencing the fire that hit Notre Dame cathedral in Paris in April.