France must boycott COP29 which will take place at the end of the year in Baku in response to the interference of which Azerbaijan is accused in the crisis in New Caledonia, said on Sunday the president of Les Républicains des Hauts-de-France Xavier. Bertrand. “I hope that France will summon the ambassador of Azerbaijan to France to explain the exact role of Azerbaijan, which does not like us fighting alongside Armenia to defend Armenia” , declared on Radio J Xavier Bertrand, candidate since the beginning of the year in the 2027 presidential election.
“They are trying to destabilize us,” he accused, before adding: “What is happening in New Caledonia with the role of Azerbaijan must lead us to say that France will not participate in this COP in Baku”, during which global negotiations on climate change are to continue. The Minister of the Interior and Overseas Territories Gérald Darmanin accused Azerbaijan of interference in New Caledonia on Thursday, at a time when the archipelago is in the grip of unprecedented riots since 1988 which left six dead.
French authorities also announced that they had detected on X and Facebook a “massive and coordinated spread” of content accusing the French police of shooting at independence demonstrators in New Caledonia, and linking this content to “Azerbaijani actors” . Azerbaijan, for its part, “totally” rejected “unfounded accusations”.