France to act against Azerbaijan as long as Macron is in power
Expert opinions on Caliber.Az

INTERVIEWS  22 January 2024 - 14:34

The French Senate almost unanimously adopted a resolution last week demanding that the French government impose sanctions against Azerbaijan. The support for Armenia’s territorial integrity was expressed and Azerbaijan’s so-called “aggression” on September 19-20, 2023 “against Karabakh” was condemned in the resolution.

In its resolution, France calls for “the immediate withdrawal of the troops of Azerbaijan and its allies from the Armenian sovereign territory”, condemns the arrests of “political leaders of Nagorno-Karabakh” and calls for sending a UNESCO mission to Karabakh to prepare a report “on the cultural and religious heritage”.

This is not the first such resolution of the French Senate. A similar resolution was adopted after Azerbaijan’s victory in the second Karabakh war in 2020. Of course, it is interesting to know the French current leadership’s reaction to this resolution. It is known that French Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Stephane Sejourne has already stated that “France will render constant support to Armenia”. However, will Paris dare to completely sever relations with Baku? After all, this could jeopardise the fairly broad economic cooperation between Azerbaijan and France.

Well-known political experts shared their opinion with Caliber.Az.

Russian specialist in the history of modern France, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor at the Institute of Social Sciences of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration Igor Ignatchenko has said that this is not the first resolution of the French Senate calling for sanctions against Azerbaijan.

“The previous resolution was adopted in November 2022 and has not led to any serious consequences yet. The French government did not impose sanctions against Azerbaijan. Perhaps, nothing significant will happen this time either,” he noted.

“However, it is necessary to remember that the entire foreign policy course of Paris under Macron’s presidency is to support Armenia, therefore the Azerbaijani people must be ready that at least until the end of Macron’s presidency, the France-Azerbaijan relations will not improve and similar attacks against Azerbaijan will be regularly made in France under the influence of the Armenian lobby in that country,” Ignatchenko added.

Another Russian expert on the South Caucasus Konstantin Tasits also noted that the French Senate has already adopted similar resolutions.

“In particular, one of them contained demands to recognise the “independence of Karabakh”. However, then the French executive branch, in particular the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, stated that this did not correspond to the policy of Paris. Perhaps, the same situation will be observed this time,” the expert said.

“According to the experts, France has no significant interests in the South Caucasus. Its actions are driven by internal motivation. By adopting non-binding resolutions, French MPs hope to enlist the support of the Armenian diaspora in further elections. The position of the current leadership is more balanced and pragmatic. It is unlikely to completely sever relations with Azerbaijan,” Tasits added.

Caliber.Az