Filenews 19 September 2021
The details of the tripartite security agreement between Australia, the UK and the US, which marked the cancellation of the contract signed by Paris and Canberra for the procurement of tens of billions of euros worth of submarines, were discussed and agreed during the G7 summit in June in Cornwall, The Telegraph newspaper writes today.
According to the report, French President Emmanuel Macron, present at the summit, was kept in the dark as to the preparation of the agreement.
Then-British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab (now justice minister) was warned that the deal would negatively affect relations with China and France. The details of the so-called AUKUS were, however, discussed in detail during the G7 meeting. All documents for her were classified as "top secret," according to Telegraph's report.
The Guardian newspaper wrote yesterday, Saturday, that talks on the issue had been going on for months in complete secrecy and added that during the G7 in Cornwall there was not the slightest hint to Mr Macron that the Australian government was preparing to cancel the bilateral contract for the procurement of submarines in order to buy U.S. nuclear-powered submarines instead.
A blow to Macron
French President Emmanuel Macron, for his part, had confirmed France's "full commitment" to abide by its part of the contract with Australia to build the submarines, worth about €31 billion.
The cancellation of the contract is a blow to Macron, who had invested a lot in this agreement and now his image is being damaged in the French audience, especially with the French opposition.
France also "implicates" NATO
France believes it is in a "crisis" with the US and Australia after Canberra cancelled the contract for the supply of French submarines, worth several billion euros, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in an interview with France 2 TV on Saturday night.
The head of French diplomacy spoke of a "serious crisis" caused by the torpedoing of this agreement, denouncing "the lies (...) the double-dealing (...) a serious breach of trust" and the "contempt" on the part of France's allies.
It is noteworthy that the French Foreign Minister considered that "what happened" would have an impact on the definition of NATO's new strategic concept, without, however, going so far as to talk about France's withdrawal from the North Atlantic Treaty.
When asked about the recall of French ambassadors from Washington and Canberra, Le Drian justified the decision, saying that "there is a serious crisis between us."
"The fact that, for the first time in the history of U.S. relations with France, we are recalling our ambassador for consultations, is a serious political act that shows the intensity of the current crisis between our two countries and also with Australia," he said.
And for those who believed that Paris faces more... loosely in London, the French Foreign Minister gave an unexpected as well as characteristic answer:
"The recall of the ambassador from London was deemed pointless; we know the permanent opportunism of the British'', le Drian mocked, describing the UK as a "spare tyre" of the tripartite initiative!
He stressed, however, that Emmanuel Macron has not discussed the submarine issue with his US counterpart, Joe Biden.
