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Howl of disapproval: French activists quit wolf talks

French conservation groups on Monday withdrew from government consultations about managing the wolf population, describing as "unacceptable" ministers' new proposals for checking the growing numbers of the once endangered predator.

Published: 18 September 2023 17:39 CEST

Howl of disapproval: French activists quit wolf talks

A woman holds an image of a wolf during a protest against the hunting of wolves in 2016 in Nice, France. (Photo by VALERY HACHE / AFP)

“We have announced our definitive withdrawal from the National Wolf Group,” said Jean-David Abel of France Nature Environnement (FNE), speaking on behalf of six environmental associations.

Unveiled at the latest round of closed-door talks between environmentalists, elected officials, civil servants, the agricultural industry and hunters, the government’s wolf plan for 2024-29 has failed to satisfy either side, with farmers also complaining.

“It’s not new for the government to listen to (farmers’ union) FNSEA, the (sheep farmers’ group) FNO and the chambers of agriculture, but when it’s this unbalanced we said to ourselves ‘we’re not doing any good here’ and it’s up to the state to take responsibility for that,” Abel said.

None of the environmentalists’ proposals made earlier this year were reflected in the final text, he added.

Wolves had vanished from France but began returning in the 1990s, with farmers saying they suffered 12,000 attacks on their animals last year.

Wolf numbers were estimated at 1,104 individuals by France’s biodiversity authority this month, based on indicators including tracks, overheard wolf howls, genetic analysis and others.

Current rules allow up to 19 percent of the population to be culled.

A government source told AFP that “wolves are no longer in danger, but on the other hand there is a real danger that shepherding might disappear”.

Despite environmentalists’ complaints, FNO representative Claude Font said that under the proposed plan, “the state is trying to have it both ways and is only making everyone unhappy”.

“We wanted something more ambitious for animal husbandry,” he added, saying “the only progress is on the protocol for shooting” wolves.

Another farmers’ union, Confederation Paysanne, said the text showed “extreme weakness, which cannot help but be seen as a fresh insult by farmers”.

Beyond France, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen warned earlier this month that “the concentration of wolf packs in some European regions has become a real danger for livestock and potentially also for humans”.

She announced a review of laws protecting the predators from hunters and called for local communities, scientists and officials to submit data on wolf numbers and their impact.

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Azerbaijan vehemently rejects the accusation it bears responsibility for the riots that have led to the deaths of five people and rattled the Paris government.

But it is just the latest in a litany of tensions between Paris and Baku and not the first time France has accused Azerbaijan of being behind an alleged disinformation campaign.

The riots in New Caledonia, a French territory lying between Australia and Fiji, were sparked by moves to agree a new voting law that supporters of independence from France say discriminates against the indigenous Kanak population.

Paris points to the sudden emergence of Azerbaijani flags alongside Kanak symbols in the protests, while a group linked to the Baku authorities is openly backing separatists while condemning Paris.

“This isn’t a fantasy. It’s a reality,” interior minister Gérald Darmanin told television channel France 2 when asked if Azerbaijan, China and Russia were interfering in New Caledonia.

“I regret that some of the Caledonian pro-independence leaders have made a deal with Azerbaijan. It’s indisputable,” he alleged.

But he added: “Even if there are attempts at interference… France is sovereign on its own territory, and so much the better”.

“We completely reject the baseless accusations,” Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry spokesman Ayhan Hajizadeh said.

“We refute any connection between the leaders of the struggle for freedom in Caledonia and Azerbaijan.”

In images widely shared on social media, a reportage broadcast Wednesday on the French channel TF1 showed some pro-independence supporters wearing T-shirts adorned with the Azerbaijani flag.

Tensions between Paris and Baku have grown in the wake of the 2020 war and 2023 lightning offensive that Azerbaijan waged to regain control of its breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region from ethnic Armenian separatists.

France is a traditional ally of Christian Armenia, Azerbaijan’s neighbour and historic rival, and is also home to a large Armenian diaspora.

Darmanin said Azerbaijan – led since 2003 by President Ilham Aliyev, who succeeded his father Heydar – was a “dictatorship”.

On Wednesday, the Paris government also banned social network TikTok from operating in New Caledonia.

Tiktok, whose parent company is Chinese, has been widely used by protesters. Critics fear it is being employed to spread disinformation coming from foreign countries.

Azerbaijan invited separatists from the French territories of Martinique, French Guiana, New Caledonia and French Polynesia to Baku for a conference in July 2023.

The meeting saw the creation of the “Baku Initiative Group”, whose stated aim is to support “French liberation and anti-colonialist movements”.

The group published a statement this week condemning the French parliament’s proposed change to New Caledonia’s constitution, which would allow outsiders who moved to the territory at least 10 years ago the right to vote in its elections.

Pro-independence forces say that would dilute the vote of Kanaks, who make up about 40 percent of the population.

“We stand in solidarity with our Kanak friends and support their fair struggle,” the Baku Initiative Group said.

Raphael Glucksmann, the lawmaker heading the list for the French Socialists in June’s European Parliament elections, told Public Senat television that Azerbaijan had made “attempts to interfere… for months”.

He said the underlying problem behind the unrest was a domestic dispute over election reform, not agitation fomented by “foreign actors”.

But he accused Azerbaijan of “seizing on internal problems.”

A French government source, who asked not to be named, said pro-Azerbaijani social media accounts had on Wednesday posted an edited montage purporting to show two white police officers with rifles aimed at dead Kanaks.

“It’s a pretty massive campaign, with around 4,000 posts generated by (these) accounts,” the source told AFP.

“They are reusing techniques already used during a previous smear campaign called Olympia.”

In November, France had already accused actors linked to Azerbaijan of carrying out a disinformation campaign aimed at damaging its reputation over its ability to host the Olympic Games in Paris. Baku also rejected these accusations.