French Environment Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher will stay away from the Cop29 global climate change conference in Baku after "unacceptable" attacks by Azerbaijan's President, Ilham Aliyev.
Aliyev had accused France of “crimes” and “human rights violations” in overseas territories including New Caledonia in the South Pacific, where 13 people have been killed this year in protests that broke out in May over a contested voting reform.
On Wednesday, Pannier-Runacher told the French Senate: "President Aliyev's words against France and Europe as the Cop29 opened in Baku are unacceptable."
Azerbaijan's leader was using "the fight against climate change for a shameful personal agenda," she added.
Earlier, Aliyev had charged that "the regime of President Macron killed 13 people and wounded 169 ... during legitimate protests by the Kanak people in New Caledonia".
Taking to social media, Pannier-Runacher posted: "Azerbaijan is instrumentalising the fight against climate change for its own unworthy personal agenda. These attacks constitute a flagrant violation of the UNFCCC Code of Conduct. They will not go unanswered".
'Colonial yoke'
Violence broke out in mid-May in New Caledonia, northeast of Australia, over Paris' plan for voting reforms that indigenous Kanak people fear would leave them in a permanent minority, crushing their chances of winning independence.
France sent thousands of troops and police to the archipelago, which is home to around 270,000 people and located nearly 17,000 kilometres from Paris.
The reform has been abandoned by a new government since Macron called new legislative elections in June.
However, the extent of the violence and damage was such that Prime Minister Michel Barnier last month announced the postponement of the territory's local polls until the end of 2025.
Aliyev also accused France of holding Mediterranean island of Corsica and Paris's far-flung overseas island territories "under the colonial yoke".
Azerbaijan has played host to a group of pro-independence movements from French overseas territories in an apparent bid to needle Paris, which has long supported Baku's arch-rival Armenia.
Aliyev's latest attacks were "a flagrant violation of the code of conduct" that usually prevails at the landmark UN climate change conferences, Pannier-Runacher said.
"Direct attacks on our country, its institutions and its territories cannot be justified," she added – also taking aim at "Azerbaijan's words in favour of fossil energy".
'Highest ambition'
This comes as Aliyev called oil and gas "a gift of the God" in his opening Cop address on Tuesday.
Pannier-Runacher deemed the Azeri president's remarks "unworthy of the Cop presidency".
She hoped instead to spotlight a "positive dynamic" at the conference in petrostate Azerbaijan, where Brazil and Britain announced new emissions targets.
While Macron and Barnier backed Pannier-Runacher in not personally attending, "France's negotiating teams will spare no effort, with my support from a distance ... to protect the planet and our populations," she added.
"We will continue to argue for the highest level of ambition in implementing the Paris Accord" of 2015, Pannier-Runacher said.
