Submarines: Macron puts the crisis into perspective and signs the sale of frigates to Greece

DEFENSE – This is the first time he has answered questions from the press on this hot issue. The AUKUS alliance forged by Australia with the United States and the United Kingdom, which deprive France a contract for supply of submarines to Australians, “does not change the strategy indo-pacific from France, said Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday, September 28.

This strategy was “announced in early 2018 in India, we have several partners in the region” and “France is a power regardless of any contract since we have a million compatriots living in this region and more than 8,000 soldiers there. deployed ”, declared the French president during a press conference with the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

“Limited consequences”

Stating that the contract related anyway to the creation of a submarine in Australia, and not in France, the Head of State added that “the consequences” of the case were anyway “ limited for French industry ”.

Emmanuel Macron also scratched his American ally, a few days after a maintenance with a widely criticized Joe Biden by the French political class after the controversy. For the French president, “if the United States is a great historical ally of France, and an ally in terms of values, for more than ten years, it has focused a lot on itself and has strategic interests that are turned to China and the Pacific ”.

“We would be naive not to draw all the consequences”, concluded Emmanuel Macron from his analysis, insisting on the need for Europeans to assume their own protection. Without necessarily distancing themselves from the Americans, but taking into account a situation in which they must be more responsible for their security.

A contract with Greece

A joint speech with the Greek Prime Minister which also allowed the President of the Republic to announce the sale of three frigates to Greece as part of the strengthening of the “strategic partnership” between the two countries.

The acquisition by Greece of three Belharra frigates which will be built in France, in Lorient, for several billion euros, is a “testimony of confidence and demonstration of the quality of the French offer”, Emmanuel Macron told the Élysée after the signing. Kyriakos Mitsotakis specified that the contract also related to an option for an additional frigate, specifying that this agreement met “the needs of the Greek navy”.

Greece’s booming arms program aims to counter Turkish provocations in the eastern Mediterranean, against which France is one of the few EU countries to have publicly protested in recent months. The French President underlined that this strengthened partnership therefore represented a “first daring step towards European strategic autonomy” which he is trying to take.

A common goal

Athens last year launched a call for tenders for four frigates and the renovation of its Hydra frigates. French society Naval Group had participated and was opposed to the German TKMS, the Dutch Damen, the Italian Fincantieri and the American Lockheed Martin.

Earlier this month, Kyriakos Mitsotakis had already announced the surprise purchase of six French Rafale fighters, in addition to a previous contract worth 2.5 billion euros, signed in January, for 12 used Rafale and six new ones.

The agreement signed on Tuesday “helps protect the security, sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of our two states, while promoting security, stability and prosperity in regions of common interest”, said declared Emmanuel Macron.

“It fits in perfectly with consistency and in full respect of our commitments to the EU and NATO, by strengthening its effectiveness for the protection of our territories and by allowing us to act more effectively and a more coordinated way together for peace and security in the Mediterranean, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans ”, he added.

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