The French leader, who left Brazil on Thursday, caused a real storm on the Internet by sharing photos of himself in a very warm conversation with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Macron, 46, began his visit to the South American country on Tuesday in the city of Belem, which will host next year’s Cop30 climate conference, and the nearby island of Combu. In one of the photos shared by the 78-year-old Brazilian president’s social media channels, the two leaders hold hands and pose on a boat sailing down the Guam River. In the next shot, he is walking very friendly in the Amazon forest.
Sharp-tongued commentators on social networks were quick to compare the photos with an engagement photo session or scenes from romantic comedies.
“Lula and Macron had a pre-wedding photo session. Will get married in the Amazon and honeymoon in Paris,” one commenter wrote on the X network.
“I’m already waiting for the Macron and Lula family Christmas card,” quipped Ian Bremmer, founder of political risk consultancy Eurasia Group.
The Internet is full of witty memes depicting presidents with heart-shaped balloons.
Macron’s visit to Brazil, his first as president, marks the beginning of a renewed partnership between France and Brazil. Bilateral relations were strained when LI Lula da Silva’s predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, clashed with France over the latter’s concerns about deforestation in the Amazon.
LI Lula da Silva and Macron emphasize common environmental goals and last week announced a 1 billion the start of a EUR investment program to protect the Amazon rainforest in Brazil and French Guiana. Near Rio de Janeiro, the presidents jointly unveiled a diesel-powered submarine built in Brazil using French technology on Wednesday, underscoring bilateral cooperation in defense technology.
“Today is a new leaf in our relations,” Macron said at a joint press conference on Thursday after a closed-door meeting and the signing of more than twenty cooperation agreements.
Speaking to reporters at last year’s G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, the presidents emphasized their desire to work together on issues such as poverty reduction, climate change and global taxation. Macron also welcomes the shared vision for the upcoming elections in Venezuela and the crisis in Haiti.
Only the issues on which there is disagreement were not even touched, for example, the topic of the war in Ukraine and the future agreement between the European Union and the South American trade bloc. Speaking to business leaders on Wednesday, Macron said Brazil considered the pending deal “very bad”.
On Thursday evening, Mr. Macron responded to the remarks of commentators on the X network: “Some pictures from my visit to Brazil were likened to a wedding. In part, they were like that. France loves Brazil and Brazil loves France.”
Supports Brazil’s desire to develop nuclear submarines
Macron told Brazil on Wednesday that France was “on your side” as the country seeks to develop nuclear submarines, but did not announce specific cooperation on nuclear engine technology that Brazil had sought.
“I want us to start a phase of developing new submarines … to look at nuclear propulsion while fully respecting all non-proliferation commitments,” Macron said at the launch of a Franco-Brazilian conventionally fueled submarine in Itaguai near Rio de Janeiro . “You want it, France will be on your side.”
Macron was speaking at a ceremony to launch Brazil’s third French-built submarine to help protect the country’s long coastline, known as the “Blue Amazon”.
The construction of the submarines was part of a 2008 agreement between President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva and then-French President Nicolas Sarkozy, which also included the purchase of 50 Caracal helicopters.
Brazil also plans to build its first nuclear-powered submarine, the Alvaro Alberto, making it the first country outside the five permanent members of the UN Security Council to do so.
