France has expressed fury over Australia’s surprise decision to scrap a huge submarine deal in favour of nuclear-powered subs from the US, describing it as a “stab in the back” from Canberra and a strain on its friendly relationship with Washington, reports The Guardian.
“It’s really a stab in the back. We had established a relationship of trust with Australia, this trust has been betrayed,” the French foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, told France Info radio on Thursday.
The EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, Josep Borrell, also expressed his disappointment, revealing that he only learned of the new alliance through the media.
“This alliance we have only just been made aware and we weren’t even consulted,” he said. “As high representative for security, I was not aware and I assume that an agreement of such a nature wasn’t just brought together over night. I think it would have been worked on for quite a while.”
“We regret not having been informed – not having been part of these talks,” Borrell said. “We weren’t included, we weren’t part and parcel of this.”
The announcement of a US, UK and Australia defence pact brought an abrupt and unexpected end to France’s $90bn (£65bn) submarine contract with Australia signed in 2016.
It is setback for the French president, Emmanuel Macron, not just in financial terms but also to French diplomacy, which had worked for years to secure the partnership with Australia and strengthen its strategic presence in the Indo-Pacific region.
A French official said discussions on the matter had taken place today between France and Australia, and France and the US on a ministerial level.
Le Drian said: “I’m very angry today, and bitter ... this is not something allies do to each other.”
He added: “This unilateral, sudden and unforeseeable decision very much recalls what Mr Trump would do,” referring to the previous US president who exasperated Europe with unpredictable decision-making.
Asked by journalists if Paris had been “duped” by Washington over what Le Drian once called a “contract of the century” for France’s naval yards, the minister replied: “Your analysis of the situation is more or less correct.”
The move by the US, UK and Australia underscores increasing concerns about China’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific region, where France is also looking to protect its interests, which include the overseas territories of New Caledonia and French Polynesia. France is the only European country with a presence in the region, with nearly 2 million French citizens and more than 7,000 troops.