the Minister of Ecological Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, announces that she will not go to Baku – Libération

It will be without her. Agnès Pannier-Runacher, Minister of Ecological Transition, Energy, Climate and Risk Prevention announced this Wednesday, November 13, that she will finally boycott the 29th United Nations climate conference (COP29). The climate summit opened on Monday in Baku, capital of Azerbaijan. In the absence of Emmanuel Macron, Agnès Pannier-Runacher was to go there to represent France from November 20 until the end of the negotiations. But diplomatic tensions between France and the host country got the better of his arrival. During a session of questions to the government in the Senate hemicycle, the minister explained this about-face by the attacks “unacceptable” of the Azerbaijani autocrat, Ilham Aliev, “against France and Europe”. “Direct attacks against our country, its institutions and its territories are unjustifiable [et] will not remain unanswered”she denounced at the Luxembourg Palace, accusing the Caucasian country of exploiting “the fight against climate change for an unworthy personal agenda”. According to the minister's entourage, the decision was taken at midday in consultation with Emmanuel Macron and his Prime Minister, Michel Barnier.

What exactly happened? Earlier in the morning, during a speech at COP 29, President Ilham Aliev pointed to Paris, denouncing «ses crimes» and the “recent human rights violations” In “the so-called overseas territories”. “President Macron's regime killed 13 people and injured 169 people […] during the legitimate protests of the Kanak people in New Caledonia”he said, greatly applauded at the end of his speech by some of the representatives of the small island states. During the riots in New Caledonia in May, accounts linked to President Aliev's party massively relayed calls for an uprising. For Paris, it is a question of interference, as recounted at length Liberation in May, an accusation that Baku rejects. However, Azerbaijan is working to support the various independence movements overseas, through the creation in 2023 of the Baku Initiative Group. According to the state news agency Azertac, it “supports the struggle for freedom of different parts of the world that still suffer from colonialism in the 21st century.”

French diplomats expelled

Between Paris and Baku, relations began to darken significantly in the fall of 2023. France, historically close to Armenia but which had always tried to establish itself as a mediator in the war with Azerbaijan, began military cooperation with Yerevan in October, just after the fall of Nagorno-Karabakh, conquered by the Azerbaijani army. Armored vehicles, radars, Mistral anti-aircraft missiles and Caesar cannons were delivered to the Armenian army.

Since then, Azerbaijan has responded on several fronts. Two French diplomats were expelled in December 2023 and several French people, passing through or residing in the country, were arrested. One of them, Martin Ryan, accused of espionage, has been imprisoned for almost a year. As for graffiti artist Théo Clerc, he was sentenced to three years in prison in September for painting Baku metro carriages. The Quai d'Orsay has since advised the French against surrendering, “unless there is an imperative reason”, in the country due to “risk of arbitrary arrest and detention”.

Unchanged program for French negotiating teams

In this context, France had therefore decided to go to COP29 in a reduced committee, to ensure “minimum political representation”, traces a government source, “with a ministerial presence only at the end of the sequence”, in the person of Agnès Pannier-Runacher. Plan hastily revised this Wednesday, November 13. “France is one of the world's leading voices on climate action and has played a central role at previous COPs, reacted on the social network X (formerly Twitter) the European Commissioner responsible for Climate Action, Wopke Hoekstra. Regardless of bilateral disagreements, the COP should be a place where all parties feel free to come and negotiate on climate action.” Before the senators, the Minister of Ecological Transition clarified that the program of “French negotiating teams” did not change. “They will not spare their efforts with my remote support,” she wants to believe. Present in Baku since the start of the week, Kévin Magron, France's interim climate ambassador, will continue to lead discussions on site.

Beyond the attacks against France, Paris also had little appreciation for the autocrat's repeated comments on fossil fuels, which represent 90% of his country's export revenues. “Quote me when I say it’s a gift from God. I want to repeat it here today, in front of this audience.”Ilham Aliev repeated Tuesday at the opening of the summit. “Any natural resource, oil, gas, wind, solar, gold, silver, copper: these are natural resources and countries should not be blamed for having them and providing them to the markets, because the markets need them”he added, reiterating comments already made in the spring. At the start of the evening, Agnès Pannier-Runacher responded at the Public Senate microphone: “We are clearly in a provocation.”