Azerbaijan’s president slams ‘colonial’ French, Dutch overseas territories at COP29

BAKU, Azerbaijan — Ilham Aliyev, the Azerbaijani autocrat, used a gathering of island leaders at this year’s COP29 climate talks to attack France and the Netherlands for maintaining overseas territories. 
The Azerbaijani president tied climate change to “neocolonialism” as he vowed to support small island nations in their fight against rising sea levels.
“The so-called overseas territories of France and Netherlands, particularly in the Caribbean and the Pacific, are among the most severely impacted” by climate change, Aliyev told the leaders’ summit of small island developing countries at COP29. “The voices of these communities are often brutally suppressed by the regimes.” 
He went on to list the territories, which he called “colonies,” and examples of how the French and Dutch administrations had caused “environmental degradation,” such as France’s nuclear testing in French Polynesia and Algeria. 
Aliyev then spoke at length about this year’s violent unrest in New Caledonia, which he blamed on the “regime” of President Emmanuel Macron.
France has accused Azerbaijan of meddling in its domestic affairs, particularly in New Caledonia. Azerbaijan has, for example, founded the Baku Initiative Group, which brings together 14 political movements across the former French Empire in the name of decolonization, and built ties with local political figures calling for the autonomy or independence of France’s overseas territories.
He also attacked the Council of Europe — the continent’s human rights watchdog — and the European Parliament for not condemning France’s handling of the situation. 
“The European Parliament and the parliamentary assembly of the Council of Europe …  became symbols of political corruption and share responsibility with the government of President Macron for killings of innocent people,” Aliyev said. 
Aliyev’s remarks Wednesday, which were met with enthusiastic applause from the island summit’s attendees, come just one day after he used his opening speech at COP29 to attack Western “hypocrisy.” 
Neither French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron nor his Dutch counterpart Dick Schoof are attending COP29.
Yet both countries were quick to punch back Wednesday afternoon.
France’s top climate official, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, swiftly announced she would boycott the climate talks, canceling a planned trip to the conference, which runs through next week.
“After discussion and in agreement with the president of the republic and the prime minister, I will not go to Baku next week,” Pannier-Runacher, the French ecological transition minister, told the French Senate on Wednesday, denouncing the remarks as “unacceptable” and “unjustifiable.”
EU climate chief Wopke Hoekstra jumped on Pannier-Runacher’s rebuttal, touting France on X as “one of the world’s leading voices on climate action.”
He added: “Regardless of any bilateral disagreements, the COP should be a place where all parties feel at liberty to come and negotiate on climate action.” Similarly, a Dutch foreign ministry spokesperson said the Netherlands “categorically rejects the unfounded views  about repression as expressed by the president of Azerbaijan during the COP29.” The Kingdom of the Netherlands, the spokesperson noted, includes “four autonomous and legally equal countries,” as well as several “special municipalities” — all brought together by “referenda and consultations.”
The Dutch are “committed to our climate ambitions and to making this COP a success,” the spokesperson said. “In this regard, the Netherlands has always been an active proponent of the interests of small island states.”
Victor Goury-Laffont and Nicolas Camut contributed to this report.