Amazon Fires Spark Diplomatic Row: Brazil To Accept G7 Grant Only If French President Macron ‘Withdraws Insults’

The diplomatic row over raging forest fires in the Amazon rainforests escalated as the Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said that his country will accept a proposed G7 grant to fight the calamity only if French President Emmanuel Macron withdraws his past comments, Tribune reports.

“To talk or accept anything from France, with the best possible intentions, he has to withdraw these words, and from there we can talk,” Bolsonaro said after Macron slammed Bolsonaro for ‘extraordinarily rude’ comments on his wife Brigitte Macron.

“Do not humiliate the guy, ha ha” the Brazilian President had commented on a Facebook picture of Bridgette Macron put up by a Brazalian supporter of Bolsonaro.

“I think Brazilian women will probably be ashamed to read that from their president. I think that Brazilians, who are a great people, will probably be ashamed to see this behaviour … And as I feel friendship and respect towards the Brazilian people, I hope that they will very soon have a president who behaves in the right way,” Macron had retorted.

“We have nothing against the G7. We have something against one of the G7’s presidents,” Bolsonaro said reacting to the French leader’s comments.

Forest fires recorded in the Amazon rainforest - the ‘lungs of the world’ - have been 83 per cent higher in number till now in 2019 over a similar period last year. With the Amazon rainforests playing a crucial role in maintaining the planet’s environment, Bolsonaro’s environmental policy has been been heavily criticised for the increase.